


What Dreams Are Made Of

by saye0036



Category: James Bond (Craig movies), James Bond (Movies), James Bond - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure & Romance, Age Regression/De-Aging, Alternate Universe - 1960s, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Pirate, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Vikings, Anglo-Saxon, Attempted Forced Marriage, Attempted Kidnapping, Attempted Murder, Attempted Sexual Assault, Canon-Typical Violence, Danger, Dreamscapes, F/M, Historical Dress, Injury, Lucid Dreaming, Older Woman/Younger Man, Revolutionary War, Sexual Fantasy, Slavery, Some Humor, Threats of Violence, Time Skips, Time period jumps, War, beatings, drug induced coma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-14
Updated: 2018-09-01
Packaged: 2018-10-18 21:52:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 34,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10625853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saye0036/pseuds/saye0036
Summary: Bond returns from a mission and inadvertently takes a piece of new tech from Q and Q branch. What bad could happen from an innocent mistake you ask? What happens next is the stuff of stories and legends.





	1. Q's Orb

**Author's Note:**

  * For [detectivecaz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/detectivecaz/gifts), [JustAnotherUnderstudy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAnotherUnderstudy/gifts), [Lilibet2](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilibet2/gifts), [tayryn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tayryn/gifts), [angelmira](https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelmira/gifts).



> This story will jump around a great deal. The characters will jump though time within their dreams and react to circumstances that surround them often being pulled into dangerous situation and emotional turmoil.

**Chapter 1 Q's Orb**

"I bought almost everything back. Come on M you can't be that upset." Bond protested as he followed M's purposeful march through the corridors of MI6 on the way back to her office.

Bond was irritatingly tossing a spherical object up in the air and catching it as he followed her trying to explain his actions in Crete. As they entered her office Bond lobbed the sphere into the air for Tanner to catch with confusion on his face.

"What is this?"

"I don't know, I just got distracted by M's new perfume while in Q branch and started playing with it."

"Trying to flirt your way out of trouble again Bond?" Eve Moneypenny was standing beside Tanner with her files and took the device out of Bill's hand. "Whatever this is it belongs to Q and you stole it, 007 you pirate."

Bond looked taken aback. "A pirate you say? Triggering some deep dark fantasies of yours Moneypenny?"

By this time M had poured herself a drink of water and moved to sit behind her desk. Dreaming up a punishment as Moneypenny inadvertently triggered her imagination. Bond as a pirate...on some ludicrous cover of a bodice ripping book that could be located at the checkout of any market.

"A pirate? I picture myself as more of a Viking than a swashbuckling pirate. What about you Tanner? Sports hero? Viking? What were you as an imaginative child?" Bond asked.

"None of your business." Tanner said sternly. He was becoming ruffled by Moneypenny's flirtations with Bond. "But if you must know, a spy."

"A spy!? As in what we actually do?" Bond said in amusement and shock.

"You do it Bond. I however, am here with M. Besides it was a certain point in time I wanted to be a spy in anyway."

"A time thing? I would change places with you mate. I wouldn't mind being around our thoroughly entrancing boss all day every day." Bond said wiggling his brows in M's direction and he leaned across her desk provocatively.

M choked on her water and had to wipe a tear from her eye. "Bond...I will have you committed." M said in mock threat. Will Bond ever stop his flirting and inappropriate behaviour?

"Threats, threats and I've done nothing wrong. I couldn't help that the bomber was successful in blowing himself up along with his compatriots. The building is still standing and no collateral damage. As for Tanner, what time period are you talking about?"

"If you must know; the sixties. I like the aesthetic of the sixties."

M scoffed and chuckled as they looked down at her. M might have been here in the sixties. The three of them could only imagine the things she had likely done and seen.

M stood a grabbed the orb that Eve was looking at and held it in her hand. "You should leave Q's inventions alone Bond." M said with a worried tone.

M placed the orb on her desk and picked up the file reading it and allowing them to continue their discussion, as she wandered away from her desk to the window. With some distance from their inane chatter M was better able to read the file in her hand.

"What about you Moneypenny? Fantasy?" Bond asked raising his brow at her.

"If like Tanner, you are asking about where I would go if Q invents time travel, I would have to say that I've always been interested in what happened during the American Revolution."

"Really, I would have pegged you for the old pirate fantasy, don't all women have those? Being abducted by the rogue handsome pirate or so the book covers would lead me to believe."

M had to look up as Bond just described exactly what she had been thinking of earlier. "Fun as this conjecture may all seem, abduction was never romantic and the past was full of disease and unsanitary conditions. Pirates and Vikings raped and pillaged. I don't know why novels try to romanticize it all. Bond as you well know as part of the Royal Navy...they said that in the past it was all...rum, sodomy and the lash."

M placed the report back on her desk, waiting for this conversation to run it's course and get back to work. M was still mentally working on a suitable punishment for Bond's effrontery to the Cretan authorities.

"Yes, well I like the rum part and the Caribbean would be nice too." Moneypenny said with a smile.

M picked up the orb and turned the item over in her hand. In her curiosity she tapped on it with her pen and then her fingers. Nothing.

M gave it a twist and was about to place it back on her desk but at that moment it began to light up. Green and red lights flashed in quick succession. M looked at it more closely when it began to warm in her hand. A sudden dizziness seized her.

The four of them looked at it, as M suddenly began to collapse. Tanner was standing closest to her and caught her as the orb hit her desk. Bond snatched the offending item up and instantly felt dizzy. Bond suddenly pitched forward sprawling on top of M's desk.

The orb left his loosened grip and rolled along the length of the desk. Eve grabbed it to prevent it from falling. Once she touched it, the warmth emanated from it and tingled up her arm, as she to began to fall.

Tanner laid M on the floor and rounded the desk to grab Eve. The orb was crushed between him and Eve, as Tanner eased her to the floor. Tanner had a few seconds to hit his mobile and call Q, "HELP! M's office…"

Tanner touched the orb to remove it from contact with Eve's hands as the tingling sensation moved up his arm and he fell prone beside Eve.

The mysterious orb rolled out of his outstretched hand….

* * *

Q rushed into the room looking around in shock. He put gloves on and turned off the orb. His assistants came clamouring in after with a metal case and he placed it inside. Q was on the line to medical and urged them to hurry.

"Damn and blast 007, you have no respect for other people's property! Now look what's happened!"

His assistant ran into the office behind Q. "Q sir; I'm sorry, I didn't notice that he had taken it from the case on my desk. How long do you think they will be affected?"

"I'm not sure Quinton." Q said to his young assistant.

"I'll wait until we get them off to medical for observation. Looks like we've got a running test of my limbic system orb after all." Q sighed, a bit worried about M and Eve. He had designed the device to work on heavier males and not friendly or smaller specimens. He wondered how long the combined effects of the drug and the effects the vibrations from the LSO had on those who came into direct contact after it was activated. This was completely untested and new. Why the hell did end up here!

"Bond! Damn your absent minded fidgeting. I designed it to appear like an object of power, something that one would feel compelled to touch. I never thought anyone would end up taking it! He must have absently grabbed it in his haste to explain his actions to M and took it with him."

"I will go to the lab and get all the notes. Maybe we can speed up the reversal process."

"Yes do that. Meet me in medical."

The medical crew arrived with four gurneys to take them down to the medical lab. Q had already notified them of the basics of what had happened.

Q himself notified the PM's office and a committee member, Gareth Mallory was personally coming to oversee the operations until M woke and took back her position upon clearance from medical. Naturally, Q would be responsible for a detailed report of what had happened to immobilize the upper echelons of MI6.

One thing was certain, it was going to be a long night.


	2. Tanner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tanner wakes to a new London and tries to make sense of it all, while muddling through his surprizing new job.

 

Everything was fuzzy, I must have just woken up. I really needed some coffee before work this morning, to get my head straight.

I'm on the street...wait how did I get here? I thought I was in bed? I feel fine just discombobulated or so it seemed. It was as if I drank too much at the pub, yet I don't have a sore head, just a confused haze.

I can't believe how all fashion came back around after a few decades. I look down at myself to see a tweed suit I've never seen before...what in hell was going on?

I'm wearing a cap and I pull it off because my head needs a literal scratch. "Hair!" I said out loud as a woman passing by smiled at me. She had big bouffant auburn hair and a bright pink and orange tunic with multi coloured tights.

I spend time running my hand over my locks as I looked at myself in a shop window. The shop sold old fashioned radios and tellies. I have a lovely head full of hair like I did when I was a teen.

The smell was different and muted for a second until I focused on the bakery a few doors down the street. All the shops...what the hell was going on? I walked to the end of what should be my street staring at all the cars and buses! My god it was like I stepped through a time portal...

Just like I spoke to Eve, Bond and M about in her office! I said my greatest fantasy was to be a spy in the 1960's!

I hailed a cab for vauxhall cross. "What do you want to go there for mate? You look ready for work not a walk through a old garden."

I considered what he said and asked him, "what's the date?"

"It's the last day in May Governor."

"What year?"

"Are you having a joke on me mate?"

"No...you see...I got hit...hit on the head yesterday."

"1968, now where are you headed?"

I have to think about that for a second. "SIS headquarters."

"I know it. Century House."

"It really is that badly kept a secret?"

The cabby laughed as he began driving. What in hell was going on?

I hoped M knew what was going on. The last thing that I remembered was Bond and M arriving in her office from Q branch, for a debrief of Bond's last mission.

The cab pulled up to a block of buildings and as I got out I realized that I may just be dreaming all this.

If I was...I've never had a dream that had such vivid sights, sounds and smells as this one. I headed in through the front door. I walk in like I own the place and the guards all nod and smile at me.

A tall attractive woman with her long dark hair pulled back in a bun, with horn rimmed glasses, a white blouse and a black mini-skirt arrived with a clipboard in her hand. "Mr. Tanner so good to see you today. M would like to speak with you straight away."

"Fantastic, I need to speak with her also. Ms?"

"Her? You are funny today Mr. Tanner. And you don't remember me?" The two of them moved towards the lift as they got in alone. "You surely jest after the weekend we just spent together."

The woman pulled her hair free as she cornered me in the lift after hitting the stop button. She kissed me and things quickly spun out of control and the next moment...we were enveloped in a shifting haze. Suddenly I'm buttoning up my shirt and straightening my tie, as the door to the lift opened.

A short cute blonde woman stood there with her hands on her hips. "Mr. Tanner?" She said impatiently. The voice was unmistakably M's. "M?"

"Are you drunk as well as inappropriately playing with M's secretary...agent Tanner?"

M looked to the woman righting her blouse in the lift in the eyes, holding the moment until whoever this girl was she looked down suddenly ashamed. "I think you have somewhere else to be Miss Moneypenny?"

"M wanted me to hurry you along to our tactical meeting, Mr. Tanner." The gorgeous dark haired woman fled under M's steely gaze. That much had not changed at least. M could still instill fear faster than any woman I knew.

"Moneypenny?!"

"Yes Mr. Tanner, are you so addled from your snogging session in the lift that you forgot her name?"

"M...what's going on? Why are we in the 1960's and how the hell am I an agent?

"This is no time for a mental break 008. The Soviets are moving troops towards Czechoslovakia at an alarming rate. We fear that they will invade this summer. I've suggested to M that we need at least you and 007 in the field to get us some more information."

"007?"

"Yes. James Bond." M said it as though she thought I was being obtuse on purpose.

We walked into an office and there was James in one of his silver suit's looking at his mobile. It was at this point I understood that this was all a hallucination. Yet, it seemed far too real to be a dream? Then again it was all fuzzy around the details. Bond looked like he stepped out of our world into this dream reality but no one seemed to notice the differences but me.

"Where are we going then?" I asked and just as suddenly James and I were in a pub in Czechoslovakia chatting with two waitresses. The details were in flux and my understanding that this was all a dream descended upon me, yet I could not make myself wake up and shake it off. Just as suddenly I was back in that London office sitting with Bond in front of two Ms.

Why a 00 agent in the 1960's?

I had forgotten it all like a fog disappearing with the sunshine.

Who had I been speaking with about that?

Why am I and the others in the appropriate fashion yet no one commented on Bond and his attire? Not to mention the mobile he carried and played with as he spoke with M. This M is, or was Vice Admiral Miles Messervy, the first M that MI6 had if my history was correct.

M it seemed got on very well with Bond. Our, very attractive M was on a good footing with the old man also.

She...M was a bit of a surprise.

Her hair was similar but blonde instead of white and she was smaller around the middle. She was bloody cute to be honest!

She was still the same no nonsense strategist that I have known these past years. Bond, well he was still taking risks by flirting with her in front of everyone.

Although, I suppose it was the 60's and gender politics, if my memory served...men took liberties.

I don't think that there would be nothing against them being together here.

I wonder what Bond would think of seeing her like this? She really was...is...oh this time thing is difficult...M's a cute little thing. Not that she wasn't an attractive woman in her later years it was just...where on earth was all this coming from. I suppose in the depth of a dream you would be the youth you remembered yourself to be.

I'm younger with hair!

"008 I would stop staring at me like that! I'm not use to it from you and you look like you're perplexed about something." M, well not the M but my M said.

"008 is just stunned by your beauty, just as I have always been Mrs. Mansfield. Shame that another man captured your heart and married you before we had a chance at great romance." Bond said with a wistful smirk on his face. "I suppose that there is still time." He finished with cockily.

"Ha, Bond...young Mrs. Mansfield is far too intelligent a woman to get involved with either of you two. Let's get down to business shall we." M said ending Bond's flirtations and it was then that I notice a metal orb on the bar cart in the corner.

It seemed important but where had I seen that before?

I had to grab the arms of the chair for the dizziness that overwhelmed me. When I opened my eyes we were on a plane. I closed them again and opened them to be in a hotel room with a Russian woman telling me something in Russian, yet I'm able understand it as if she were speaking English. What on earth was going on?

The woman morphed suddenly into Eve...my Eve.

"Eve do you know what's going on?"

"I don't know Bill. This is your dream not mine."

"Why are we here then?"

"To help some important people escape before the Soviets take over Czechoslovakia, would be my guess."

"You, me and Bond stuck in the late 60s and looking for who?"

"I don't know. Didn't M brief you?"

"Yes but there were two M's and I was distracted in the lift by Moneypenny….not you...but another one. And then M was barely 30 and very cute."

"Get it together Tanner. A spy pays attention to the details, beyond how cute their boss is!"

"I know Eve, but Bond was flirting with her and the weirdness of Sir Miles being M and standing in front of me made me blank on the details."

"Bond always flirts why did that rile you?"

"Because he was far more serious then I had expected and it's my dream so why wasn't I the one flirting with her?"

"I can't answer to your subconscious feelings for M but you may have a bit of a crush."

"What! No...I mean yes, perhaps but what does that say about me snogging Miss Moneypenny in the lift?"

"She wasn't me though?" Eve said looking confused and a bit but out, or at least that was how I hoped she felt.

"No...I wish she were...wait you're not really you so it's ok that I say that to you...bloody hell! I'm so confused."

"No...I am part of you in a representation of Eve. You may learn a few things about yourself in all this Tanner."

"Now I'm beginning to stress like I'm about to walk into an exam I didn't study for in only my pants!"

Calm down Tanner. You have to try to guide the dream, like you are creating it yourself."

"I will try."

* * *

Med lab HQ in London:

"During REM sleep, the limbic system of the brain, the hippocampus and amygdala are extremely active. This is why we experience the bizarre, illogical and disorganized imagery in dreams and the absence of logic." The doctor said as he, Gareth Mallory and Q stood over the four beds.

Eve, Tanner, Bond and M are hooked up to machines and the readings are consistent to deep REM sleep.

"What happened exactly Q?" Mallory asked.

"This machine we were working on was in a case and 007 decided to pick it up and examine it. He tossed it in the air as M and I went over my report from his last mission. M began to chastise Bond for his careless behaviour and when she realized the time left abruptly with Bond following. He absentmindedly still had the device and was lobbing it in the air like a toy ball. It was not intentional. You can watch the video feed of the occurrence if you like."

"No that will not be necessary. Just explain what happened to them so that I can make my report to the minister and the PM."

"Nothing should have happened at all. There is a sequence that needs to be entered to set it off and somehow they did and it turned on. The device only affects the handler, so they all must have touched it with their bare skin while it was active in order to be immobilized. We were about to test the device and it does no harm to the body but does put the intended into a deep vivid dreamscape based on discussions and occurrences that they had prior to contact."

The doctor intruded for a moment. "Mr. Tanner has been muttering about Miles Messervy and M, Czechoslovakia and the 1960's."

"Record everything they say and they should all come out of this within four hours but as I said it is untested. I will try to reverse the orb and bring it back to get them out earlier." Q said as he moved to the hall, Mr. Mallory following him.

"I do hope that nothing of a secret nature comes out of them."

"That is what this is designed for and we are in a controlled location. I will go over the recordings and destroy them after M reviews them. In the meantime I have created a portal into our system for your use, while you are here to look over the operation."

"Thank you Q. I will go up to the office and see what I can do to calm the PM after all this. I cannot say that this looks good and that M's not going to have problems over it after all is said and done."

"It was an accident. She should not be held responsible for my failings! I will hand in my resignation as soon as she is awake. I insist that I take all responsibility for this."

"Very well Q." He said looking very concerned for the older gentleman. "I'm sure she will fight to keep you. I assume that the two of you have known each other a very long time."

"Yes, I've known her since the 1960's. But be that as it may, I refuse to harm her career for the amateurish mistake of one of mine, not securing a dangerous invention." Q told Mallory before he left for M's office to get back to work.

It would mean overtime for the staff to try to repair all the damage that they had inadvertently done.

To be continued...


	3. Eve

What on earth was going on? Where am I? Why the hell am I in a floor length puffy dress with an apron? And a bloody bonnet of all things!

There are loud noises in the distance and the house was full of people. There are men rushing around in a panic. That was nothing new, it was all just like another day at work really but in period dress.

A woman dressed like me hands me a large pitcher of water. "Well, go get to work honey or they'll whip ya for sure."

The woman had a southern drawl and I moved in the direction that she told me too. All the men were in the dinning room smoking pipes and talking abruptly ended when I entered. They looked at me strangely and then the man stood and I saw that he was also in period dress.

I couldn't stifle a giggle as I looked at the tights he wore but then the look he was shooting at me made me straighten up and take notice.

"Girl...serve us and get out or I'll have you whipped!"

I was about to say- 'you and who's army', when I noticed armed men around the room. I poured the water in their glasses and placed the jug on the table.

"Get the whiskey now girl, top up their drinks and get to the kitchen to make luncheon for them."

I did as instructed and curtseyed not knowing what the hell was going on. The men were talking like I wasn't in the room. About the British defences and their own. I topped up the drinks and left the room but kept the door open a crack while I gathered intelligence.

Yorktown was where we British were holding up. The plan was for a siege and I really wish I could speak to M. Wait...Tanner...and Bond were all in the office just moments ago. Or at least that was how it felt.

"We've heard that a Commander Bond has arrived from the Royal Navy. He was escorting a Duchess to Canada when the weather drove them south." The leader said.

"What is that to us? Other than a handsome ransom for her return." Said the man who ordered me about. The owner of the house in all likelihood.

"It is rumoured that she was born in Paris and has many friends in the French military. Should she sway them away from helping us take Yorktown and this war will just keep going. We cannot afford to let that happen."

"Girl you had better get back to work or the master will whoop your ass." A woman came up behind and whispered to me.

She had seen me peeking through the door and sent me into the back of the house and the kitchen to begin helping. I never was good at cooking and I'm definitely not about to play the role of good bloody slave.

"They're talking about Yorktown. How far is that from here?" I ask the cook in my best imitation of Scarlett O'Hara that I could muster. Vivian Leigh was English and I didn't do too bad...this was only a bad dream anyway.

Why on earth did I ever say I was interested in American history enough to want to visit this time and place. Who was I having that conversation with anyway? Wait...Bond asked me and Commander Bond was nearby

"Yorktown is ten miles North East from here, why ya askin?"

"No reason." I find a canvas bag and begin filling it with food and head out the door. I see a wagon going by with a boy driving. "Where are you off to?"

"Town to pick up flour and supplies." He answered.

"Oh...then I'm suppose to be with you."

"Alright." The boy said as he made room for me. It was bumpy and the road seemed to lengthen and shorten in my odd vision.

This was a dream. Some details fade away, yet some are vivid but for the life of me I couldn't describe a single man in that room.

I was suddenly off the wagon and standing outside a large fort. This must be Yorktown. There were some armed Americans who ignored me. I had a great story contrived about how I was under the orders of my Master to come through the lines to speak with their men. I didn't need it with the way I seemed to be invisible to all these people. Whether that was because of my skin or that this was my dream I can't be certain.

I peek in the bag I brought and just as in a dream I suddenly had the required paperwork. "If only all missions could be this easy in the field." I still needed to lay low and hide until I could sneak into the British camp. I hope to hell this Commander Bond was who I thought he was.

I hid in a barn and unpacked some food to eat. There was little or no taste to it...therefore dream food.

I was considering what I had overheard at the house about the siege and the French troop reinforcements they were expecting. I shouldn't mess with history like this but it was all just a vivid dream...wasn't it?

I just can't shake myself awake from this...was reality really as I could shape it or could I actually change history? No...this was not Dr. Who, this was just my dream after...what...a meeting in M's office.

Someone entered and I retreated further back into the empty stall.

"There's an escaped slave headed North that we are suppose to look out for. She's likely trying to get to the British so that the Kingsmen can free her sorry ass."

"She could be on her way to Canada now, do you want me to send someone after her?"

"No, we believe we may have a more serious problem. A British spy in our midst, that Bill...Tanner...he's new and his accent has slipped up a few times. He's not what he claimed, likely a damn Hessian that the British are using to expand their ranks."

"I'll call him in here Roger and we will beat it out of him." One man left and the one called Roger waited. Was it going to be my Bill Tanner? I hoped it was. Maybe Tanner knew what the hell was going on. I found a small hammer in the stall. It would have do well enough for a weapon.

* * *

The next thing I knew I was yelling at Tanner and we're fighting off these two men. We take their bodies and hide them under some straw in the stables as good as we are able.

"Eve, thanks for the help."

"Tanner why are we here?" I implored him.

"What do you mean?" Tanner just looked confused by my question.

"Revolutionary times in the thirteen colonies!"

"Where else should we be?"

"Tanner? Bill Tanner from MI6?" Oh dear god...he looked like my Bill but he was just part of the fabric of this time. Clothes, a wig and appeared vivid to me. I touched his arm and he was solid. I gave him a smack suddenly and he reacted hurt.

"Owww...Why did you do that! Yes, I work for the British secret service."

"And we both work for M and she's about this tall with steely eyes and a short crop of white hair."

"Yes and I think we need to get back to her. Where is she?"

"I don't know Tanner! I thought you knew!"

"I'm following you in all this Eve, it's your dream, fantasy anyway. How else would I perfectly describe your boss? I am only as real as you believe me to be Eve."

"Damn it! Come on. We have to find away into that fort!"

"Why? Why not head north and be safe there?"

"Because a Commander Bond from the Royal Navy just arrived with a Duchess he was escorting only to have a storm toss them south with damaged to his ship. I have a feeling that the Duchess is M and Bond is 007 so we have to get to them for this fantasy nightmare to be over."

"We could turn the tide of this war and the United States would not happen...not yet anyway." Bill said with a smile. "The war of 1812 might be when they rise up again."

"I don't know but right now I want a cup of tea and a good book rather than hiding out in a disgusting horse stall in these times...have you noticed the smell Bill...argh."

"I don't smell anything. I'm just a character in your imagination, so are Bond and M, perhaps once we are together you will let yourself wake up."

"Christ, I hope so." Eve said. "The thing is; it has to be more than a dream because I smell and feel things...not as strongly as in the real world but my feet hurt and I have hunger and thirst. Could I be killed here and die in London?"

"I cannot know and if I am just a representation of myself am I having dreams like this?" Bill asked confused and flustered.

The sun suddenly went down and they made their way cautiously to the British camp.

"Oi! What have we here? Another escaped slave or is this your master?"

"We are spies for your side, let us pass." I tell him with more confidence than I'm feeling. They all defer to Tanner because he's male. Bloody hell! The past and this dream was a pain in my feminist arse.

We are suddenly ushered into what can only be the headquarters for the military leaders. Bond was there looking over a map and frowning. He looked very handsome in his military uniform.

The Navy's blue coats a contrast to the Red Coats guarding the area.

There was a metal sphere holding down the edges to the maps on the table. There was something familiar about that object.

However, a sudden cough made me turn towards an elegant wingback chair close to the fireplace. A woman sat in it and I could make out her petticoats layered under her travel habit and a gloved hand on the arm.

"You there. You have news of the revolutionaries? I take it you're a loyalist and a former slave?"

"Yes sir we are loyal to the Queen...I mean King...and his dominions." British General Lord Cornwallis looked taken aback by my accent as we hear the mystery woman clear her throat.

"Come forward." It was M! I felt somewhat relieved with thinking that now that M was in attendance, that all these problems would be dealt with.

I curtsied and Tanner bowed. M was resplendent in a corseted blue dress make from the richest velvets. Her hair is a white wig piled high as was the fashion. She was pale but not due to powder, M looked a bit ill.

"You brought us papers to help against the coming siege." I handed her my satchel hoping that in my dream reality whatever she needed was in the bag.

"We need to get this to the French General de Rochambeau. He will heed what I say, I am his aunt after all." M said to Bond and Cornwallis.

"Yes, Ma'am." Cornwallis went to collect a messenger, leaving the four of them alone.

"M, thank god you are here, pretending to be the Duchess of Marlborough?"

"It would appear I am. What is it that you think you will accomplish by helping the British in all this Miss Moneypenny?"

"I don't know M. I've often wondered what would have happened had the war gone the other way. Would slavery have ended sooner?"

"Yes, as of 1772 any slave on British soil was automatically fee, abolition of slavery in Britain was passed in 1833. The Northern states were more apt to accept free slaves as was Upper and Lower Canada which was basically Britain. The loyalist would have been moving north at this time and many slaves were making the journey north to freedom." M said.

"I always thought the United States was the land of the free, too bad they only meant part of the population." Tanner added with a sad sigh.

"And women are treated like property with little in the way of rights. At least they will listen to M because she's aristocracy and that's the only way you could be respected, even if it's all just an elaborate dream act. I just wish I could bloody well wake up!"

"Yes, because we are going to have to get M out of here and I think they want her to speak with her nephew first."

"Yes, we have become the cog in this historical tale, the four of us. If can convince the French to ignore the call to arms, it will change the history of this country." M said.

"Montcalm was defeated by Wolfe on the Plains of Abraham in 1759, just over twenty years ago, do you think that the sting of losing Quebec has diminished enough for them to not fight British and Hessian troops?" Bond questioned.

"That's hard to say. The relationship between the two countries had always been rocky and the rise of Napoleon is not far off." M said as we gathered some weapons. "I have always found that Americans tend to ignore that without the help of the French troops, that their Revolution may have failed."

I frowned looking at the old pistol in my hand. What I wouldn't give for a high powered sniper rifle about now.

"But this is your reality Eve dear not mine. How this plays out has everything to do with you directing your dream." M said laying her gloved hand on mine and looking at my pistol.

"I'm trying but then it all seems so real sometimes I just get caught in that realism and fear. I feared for Tanner in the barn and fought the man who was going to hurt him. I know it can't be real yet it felt real. Sometimes the smell overwhelms me. On one hand I know that what we do will not change history, yet it seems so real."

"Be that as it may, my dear girl you have to direct us in all this." M said as she stood holding my hand giving me the direction and support that I've always wanted from her, on a more personal level.

The next thing I know the four of us are riding horses at full gallop away from Yorktown into the unknown to find the French troops. Bond galloped up alongside me.

"James are you here for real or do you think you are trapped in your own dreamscape?"

"I am but an extension of you Eve and what I do and say are things that you would expect of me. If we each have our own, who's to say they won't collide before we all wake up, but I think you will know when and if that happens."

"One thing I know for certain Commander Bond…"

"Yes"

"War is hell."

"For Queen and country." Bond said to me with a smirk.

"I correct him. "For mad King George you mean."

"Yes, for mad King George!" Bond said as we continued to gallop north, off to find the French.


	4. M

I awoke in a small wooden bed in a coarse nightgown of hand stitching. The smell of fire and wood permeated the room and the clang of metal being struck somewhere nearby, along with the clatter of horse shoes on cobbled stone. This was not London...not my London...this was not my bed nor did it seem to be my reality.

I got up and looked around, to find only a few items. A shift, stay and a blue dress from another century that does not look like it will fit me...no wait. I look down at my body to see a flat stomach and smooth young skin.

What the hell!

Why?

I looked around the spartan room and found a small looking glass.

What the hell was this?

A vivid dream?

I began to try to step into the dress up to my waist but then there was the necessity of an undergarment. This dress felt too bloody tight...and of all things...a stay? The women of whatever time this was had a real hard time of it.

How the hell do I lace this bloody thing up?

I managed to get my arms through the contraption over my head and down to my chest but what now? I manage to grab the long laces from behind my back and pull. However, tying it is extremely difficult. That being said it does pull one in and now the blue dress comes on easier. Perhaps I should have put the stay on first, then the dress over my head. No wonder they had to have help getting dressed.

I swear I will never complain of my bra digging into me ever again, so long as I can have it back. I feel exposed and naked without my normal undergarments, mainly knickers.

I look back to the mirror, sure that it was all a trick of the light. I cannot get over the image of my younger self that's looking back at me from the mirror.

I suppose that in my dream, I'm the age I always think myself. I've found over the years that we never stop thinking of ourselves as we were when we were young. Back when Nigel and I were working towards building a life for ourselves in our twenties.

Age was a gift of wisdom yet a curse to the body. It was as if we melt and the years add on so quickly that when we look in the mirror we think what the hell happened? I still feel 25 and then the aches and pains remind me upon waking that I am in fact old.

I starred into the mirror and looked at my much longer blonde hair. Eternally young in my dreams...always twenty something...immortal in thought and action.

Memories descend on me suddenly, about staying up all night studying or making love to Nigel. Lying in his arms and laughing as the sun came through the window and we had to get ready for class. Once married and a career was achieved that changed...and then there were children. Everything changes with children.

But here there was no pain in dreamland but for the memory of all that I had lost in my past.

A pounding at my door shocked me back into this room that I'm standing in. Well, I can still feel startled and afraid apparently.

The door swung open as a gruff looking man with a beard and period dress stood scowling at me.

"Liv...get yourself out to the bar...we've ships comin' in and that means business!"

Dear god...it had been so long...I can't…even begin to comprehend the sight of him before me, let alone his voice echoing in my memory.

"What are you cryin' for girl? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I have...father. I...I will be out in a moment."

"You needn't spend time makin' yerself attractive...you're already too beautiful for this place. Besides, I'll not be lettin' you run off with any of these louts!" My father said with a laugh. I rushed to him and threw myself into his arms and just hold him a moment or two. He smelled the way I remembered, like pipe tobacco...I can barely control the tidal wave of tears. So many years had pasted...I missed him even if I stopped thinking about him everyday with the passage of time.

He patted me on my back gently as I tried desperately to stem the tide tears seeing him again caused. His voice...I managed to recall almost perfectly in my dreams. Although, father didn't usually speak in such slang terms. He pushed me to his arm's length and just looked me up and down.

"Now girl...enough of these tears. I told you I would never force you to marry and I'm a man of my word. You can choose whoever you want to marry. Just please don't pick anythin' lower than an officer. And a good an proper officer, not like that wicked James who tried to take you away. Horatio Nelson will do." We both began to laugh at that. His smile was so familiar to me again, as if I was actually with him. I am truly through the looking glass this time.

"I know I'm just a simple tavern owner by the sea but...I think you're smart and beautiful enough to land far above your station."

"Da...I'm not that pretty. Cousin Maggie is so much prettier than I."

"And dumb as a stump!" That had been an ongoing joke between my father and I when I was young. Maggie was tall and willowy where I was short and clumsy.

We laughed as moved out to what was the serving area. The bell rang signalling that a ships coming into port. I have to assume we're in Portsmouth. Somewhere in the late 18th century from the clothing and that my prospective bridegroom was Lord Nelson himself.

That made me wonder, if my father was here...who else was also in this with me. Nigel?

The last thing I could recall from my real life was being in my office with Tanner and Moneypenny talking of pirates and Bond!

"Bond as a pirate!" I said suddenly and my father frowned.

"You know it's bad luck to be talkin' of pirates lass...twill bring the Kingsmen down on us for harbouring fugitives!"

One of the regulars laughed as he held a tankard up for me to take from him as he winked at me.

"Tanner?" I suddenly notice the definition of his face. Just like my father, he became defined more clearly to me and he was done up in the same style clothing. Bill even had a wig on, unless this Bill tanner had hair?

"Yes dear...I can hardly stay away from your loveliness. I've asked you forever to call me Bill darling. As often as I've asked father for your hand; but he continues to refuse the match."

This shocked me to know end. Tanner wanted to marry me!? "Well I could hardly believe that you would want to...Tann...Bill."

"Why would I not? Your a far sight better than any other woman in this entire country."

I guess looking down at myself I'm no longer in my sixties. It would make sense that in my own dream, appearing younger would also extend to the people I met later in life. That being considered it felt strange for Tanner to look at me in that way.

"But we...I mean this work relationship is not usual...I mean for us...to be wed." I added in a muddled and confused way, as another man arrived to sit with Bill.

"I mean how could I possibly...father needs me...I have duties...I don't think..." My loquaciousness was entirely due to Bill Tanner saying such things to me and about me. Not to mention the way he was reguarding me, particularly after my father moved behind the bar.

Years of being M had isolated me from any romantic entanglements at work, considering my age. No one...but Bond would dare flirt with M for fear of what I might do to emasculate or demote them. Besides, I had a husband for most of my career after all and it wasn't like I was looking for anyone...

"Q?" Q was dressed in his normal style tweed jacket and trousers. He seemed out of place here in the 18th century but no one seemed to notice. Only Bill and I seemed to even see Q.

"Yes my sweet girl. May I have a tankard with Mr. Tanner. He and I are soon leaving on an adventure with the Navy."

"Really? Where?"

"On the high seas. To the Spanish main to look for practical uses for my inventions using things I can only procure there. Oopps...I shouldn't reveal my secrets too soon." Q winked at me as I headed for the bar.

Q! There was something….an object...one Bond was tossing in the air! Q's orb! I saw it on the wall behind the bar and suddenly felt dizzy...something was happening and it wasn't going to be good.

Dread filled me as the colours of the less than defined room seemed to meld spin and then shift. The strangeness of this dream and of it; what managed to be clear to me, was constantly shifting. The non-defined background required too much focus to make out well and did not help the dizziness in my head any.

A sudden crash occurred, as a group of military men rushed in the pub!

There was a hazy fight...Father NO!

I was on the far side of the room by the fireplace and down on the floor behind a table. I must have taken refuge here because they don't seem to notice me as they attacked my father and other patrons in the room.

I saw my father struck and killed!

They set light to the tavern and they tossed through the rooms looking for something. One of the attackers grabbed the orb and tucked it into a bag. But why would the Royal Navy need that orb? Why is any of this bloody well happening to me?

Bill managed to pull me up from my hiding place and out as the room filed with smoke. I caught just a short glimpse of a man who I had hoped never to see again in my life.

Tiago Rodriguez...but no...that was Hong Kong...not 18th century England...he just stared at me, smiled and vanished into the smoke and haze. My eyes were stinging and I began to cough.

Wait how did I know...a Spanish...no...he was wearing a blue Royal Naval uniform?

No...he was with me in Hong Kong in real life...my head was still muddled and it was more than infuriating me. I despise not being in any sort of control.

I somehow had memory of father having reported Tiago to the guard for trying to take me away by force and ruin me. But he was an officer they had said and they would do nothing as he was already out to sea.

At the time I had hoped that he never ever came back to England. Tiago had come to take his revenge on me yet again. Haunting this vivid dreamscape like so many other nights...but this was worse.

This was too bloody real! The smoke filled the room and the sounds of yelling shifted to me painfully walking on the moor and seeing Skyfall up in flames.

The next thing I knew I was sitting with Q in a small flat. Reeking of smoke, my voice somewhat husky from crying and coughing so much.

"But it's all just a dream...why does it hurt so much? I smelled the smoke and my hand hurt when I hit the door on the way out? Why?" I screamed to Q, the only one that seemed grounded in my reality, like a liaison in my dream.

My father's broken and beaten body laying on the ground in the burning tavern continued to flash back on me. Grief overwhelmed me again. I didn't even realize that Bill had pulled me away and to this place.

I remember that he made Q stay with me while he went and gathered supplies.

"I know it is dear but I am but an extension of this dream. You my dear M are in the driver's seat."

"What will we do now?"

"You will sail with Bill and I on the HMS Bounty and have an adventure."

"But an unmarried woman on a ship? That would not be allowed. The Bounty? You can't be serious...why a Naval ship?"

"Well it is the Navy that wants my inventions and I suggest that you marry Bill my dear. He is a good man and would never hurt you. I am claiming that you are my niece and you and Tanner are both my assistants in order to bring you along."

"But I...I don't love him." The strange thing was that when I turned to look back at Q he was suddenly dressed differently and no more than 30, as when we first met.

"I know your father always promised that you would only have to marry for love...but oft times women need to marry for necessity. Unless you would rather marry me?" Q said with a smile.

"But what of Nigel?" I asked but Q looked suddenly confused and then turned back into the man I knew, aged like what was present day...if that made any sense at all. I look down at my hands to see if I too had aged but I had not.

That was when I realized that my rings were gone. "My rings! Oh...Nigel! I want to see Nigel again!"

I knew even to my own ears that I sounded desperate. I felt desperate...I felt the grief and longing. The build up of anxiety that weighed me down and surrounded my heart like a vice.

"Nigel?" Q asked confused as I felt the spasm of tears begin to overwhelm me again. Why do I have so little control over my emotions here? Interacting and then seeing my long dead father murdered had ripped my emotions bear. Not to mention being haunted by Tiago continuously since the disaster at Skyfall.

The next thing I saw, through the haze was the open sea and a wooden deck. I turned to my left to see Bill Tanner near to bursting with excitement and pride as he placed his arm around me.

My stomach suddenly sunk...I didn't...did I? Q suggested it but did I actually do it?

Oh dear god...did I married Bill Tanner?

* * *

Q stood over M and observed her thrashing about, as she called out her late husband's name. She called out for Bill Tanner and her father also. "Oh my dear." Q said with pity and he cupped the side of her face. "What is happening in those dreams of yours?"

Mallory came back into the room. "I have orders from the PM to take over MI6 officially and a review will be made once you've gotten them out of your dreamscape. Once this has ended and the doctors can clear them all for physical and mental reinstatement, I will leave."

Q frowned as he looked at the man. He understood but he didn't have to be so glib about it. These were more than dreams to the four people who were touched by the orb. Something was not right, it had been too long and he needed to try to create something to counteract the orb's power.

Q would stay the night and continue to observe them, while he worked in his lab. There were nurses and doctors to ensure their physical well being. They could be sedated should the level of anxiety caused by the dreams be too much. However, I asked that they use that as a last resort only.

The foursome were being kept hydrated through IV until they were pulled out of these dreams they were having.

To be continued...


	5. Bond

 

The churning of the North Sea was the first thing I noticed when I woke. That and the cold spray of salt water as the ship rocked dramatically. The smell of leather, men, blood and the sea was overwhelming. It was far more visceral than...than just a dream.

There were leather clad men and women around the no more that 40 foot boat and rowers were stationed on either side. There were two wounded men propped up against the side of the small boat, bound up and bleeding.

I got up and could just make out the rocky coast past the carved wooden dragon on the bow.

"Where are we?" I asked to the closest man.

He laughed and hit me hard on the back. "You took a bad hit to the head. That's England and we're having a time not to be smashed against the rocks. Those ones in the North gave us some trouble when we landed but your head will recover Jakob Bóndi."

He was speaking a foreign language, Norwegian I think...yet I could understand it just fine. And I was speaking English as far as I could tell but they could understand me just fine.

I looked out over the jagged coast line but I could not yet place it. I've sailed around this island with the navy many times yet this seemed different, the haze around everything was not just because of the stereotypical English weather. There was something else going on.

A man approached me thrusting a sword and shield in my hand as the other suddenly jumped overboard, hitting the surf and screaming bloody murder. I followed feeling the cold of the water seep through my leather clothing. Something tingled and was familiar about all this.

We rushed the beach with only a few people around yet there were horns in the distance. What was going on...this dream was both real and unreal at the same time.

Where was I before waking on this viking boat?

Those men that they did encounter were cut down quickly. I moved to side to go around the men who had come to defend the land. I climbed a small cliff and left the coast into the forest. Through the trees I could make out banners and I headed quietly toward the leaders encampment.

Within was a nervous looking runner who had just arrived. It was Tanner! He left his horse and I moved quietly towards the tethered animal. I accosted Tanner as he came back for his horse.

"Psst...Tanner!"

Tanner turned and his eyes widened in a panic as he drew his sword. "Tanner, it's me James."

"I don't know who you are Viking savage but the King will want to see you."

I lowered my sword so that Tanner could take me prisoner. I wanted answers and the King may be the appropriate place to start.

Tanner bound my hands and put me on a horse as he lead me away from the beach skirmish and towards what could be called civilization in the ninth century. The walled city we finally made it to was York. In my fascination with Vikings as a child I remembered that the Vikings took over Northumbria and took over and built York in the later half of the 800's. The last Saxon King of this region was Ælla and likely who Tanner was bringing me to see.

Tanner dragged me into the town and into the main building. There were people milling about as a large man sat on a raised dais on his throne. The man was snoring loudly with a wine goblet on the floor where he had let it drop.

Tanner looked around and asked a page to talk to the Queen. We moved from the main meeting hall down a corridor to a smaller room. The Queen, this could be promising.

"Who am I going to meet Tanner?"

"I don't know how you know our language pagan but you are lucky that wisdom will preside over your fate. The dowager Queen is far less likely to feed you to the dogs than either of her tumultuous sons."

"What is her name and that of her drunken son?"

"The King's mother is one of his trusted advisors as well as eoldermen Steed. Prince Osberht is in the far north gaining support for defence against you Pagan scum." Tanner pushed Bond to his knees as a woman entered from the corridor.

"M." I said looking at the woman hoping to hell that she recognised me.

"Mr. Tanner what have you brought me?" M did not seem at all scared of the fact that I was a vicious Viking raider, and merely appeared curious.

She was dressed in a long heavy gown that hid her shape from me. The only difference between this M the woman I knew, was that she was only in her forties. Her beautiful blonde hair was extremely long and coiled in plates in an up-do that I know she would hate.

All of this somehow tapped into some deep fantasy I've had of her in the past. I can tell by the shy way that she looked down and away from me that she could sense my desire.

"This one surrendered to me ma'am. He speaks our language and knew my name. I think he's a spy and brought him to your son for judgement but the king is indisposed."

M scoffed at this. "With a mistress or drunk?"

"The latter your majesty." The voice came from a tall man who swept from the direction of the meeting hall where we just met the passed out King.

I tense immediately. Fuck! Silva! Here. I stand up and put myself between M and him. He looked surprised at the move.

"I know you are from a savage tribe but I've done nothing to you...yet...to warrant this display."

Tanner pulled my tied hands and I sneered at Silva. "Stay away from her!"

The room got quiet and there was a sense of confusion at my protection of a woman I had supposedly just meet. Silva sneered back and moved around me to M. He bowed over her hand and kissed her on both cheeks. A move I could see that made M...not M...the King's mother uncomfortable. This was my dream...so why wasn't I suddenly free of my restraints so that I could strangle that man!

"My dearest majesty. How does this savage speak our tongue?" Silva purred in an accusing tone. "You do not know this savage do you?"

"No...of course not!"

"I was just coming to pay you court. Forgive me for saying in front of your man Tanner and this savage, who I can only assume has some limited knowledge of our language. But I could barely contain my excitement. I have asked your son for your hand in marriage. I know that it's not been long since my wife died but I have always been drawn to you."

"Your wife was killed by that marauder a month ago? I do not think it seemly that my son would permit such a fast wedding." M was upset I could tell. "I thought there was an ongoing investigation to the Lady Severine's death?"

"It has been completed and I will leave the plans for our nuptials to you."

"I would think that you were already in the most powerful position in Northumbria, why do you need a marriage to a former Queen? It will certainly not get you any closer to the throne. I would think you would be after my granddaughter once she's of age."

"I care nothing for your son's throne other than natural loyalty. In all honesty...I've dreamt of little but you for years."

"That sounds a tad obsessive...what if the lady does not want to marry you?" I said in M's defence.

"I know that you savages allow your women to fight and have say over you but that is not our way. If the King wishes it...I will marry his mother." With that Silva strode away back towards the meeting hall with the drunken King.

"Majesty, what will you do? I know you do not want this match." Tanner said to M in a whisper.

"There is not much I can do but go to a convent and live out the rest of my life in seclusion and contemplation." M said sadly.

"No…you will come with me and I will take you somewhere safe. I will take you north…" I suddenly realized that this was Skyfall happening all over again. It had haunted my dreams for months, why not add it to this bizarrely vivid nightmare.

Panic welled up inside me at the mere thought of it all happening again. Fear of a different dream, within a dream. That would be one to discuss with the psychologist in the future. Dreams don't usually last this long? Not to mention it follows a fairly steady linear progression.

"Come to my chambers, untie him Tanner and then...bring us wine and food." M ordered Tanner and he did as she commanded.

The Queen's apartments were at the far end of the compound with a view of a garden. A servant brought a bowl of water which Tanner washed the grime from the road from his face and hands. I did the same, pouring the water over my head to rinse all this hair I suddenly had. My actions made M's brows go up in surprise at my appearance once all the dirt and blood was removed.

"I don't think you are as you seem Sir?"

"Bond, James Bond. Or in the Norwegian language Jakob Bóndi your majesty." I bow low to her showing her respect and making her feel that I'm not the savage she believes me to be. "From London...Lundenwic, your majesty."

"That area is in Wessex, or is it Mercia now? It is very close to the border of those two lands and an old Roman settlement which each of those kings fights over. We've a recent treaty with the King of Wessex to help defeat you heathens. Yet, I no longer get the impression that you are a heathen. If you are Saxon as you claim...what were you doing with a Viking raiding party?"

I racked my brain trying desperately to remember my English history and not screw this up. I do not know what I can use as an excuse but I have to think of something because this M, was as lovely and intelligent as my own.

Maybe I can become part of her personal guard and household? I would have the luxury of being close to her like never before and again keep Silva away from her. Over the fireplace a reflection drew my attention. A metal orb sat...I've seen it before….before this dream took over.

M's office! Tanner and Eve were there...and the orb lit up and made a noise.

Tanner hit me upside the head as I just stared across the table at M with my mouth hanging open. I wondered if any other men, than Silva tried to gain her favour and entertain her in bed. Were affairs with younger men a thing in this day and age? Christ...with her...likely.

I suppose it could become me if this was all just my dream and I guided it there. We drink and eat, all the while sizing each other up. I can see that she was still disturbed by what Silva had said to her in the hall.

The Queen was as alert and inquisitive as my M. I don't think that women of this time were that involved in politics but I'm likely wrong. Knowing M, even as a Dowager Queen, she would be heavily involved with her country.

The wine warmed me as I become dizzy and then the world dissolved.

* * *

I awoke in a large bed with M beside me in nothing but a shift dress. Her long hair hung down as she brushed it out, while sitting propped up against the headboard beside me. The sun beaming through the drapes around the bed casting her in a golden light. It's morning? The entire evening was forgotten...or I just jumped in this lucid dream.

M was so beautiful that she took my breath away.

M looked amazing and sexy like this, but perhaps any chance to see close to me in the morning would move me so. I've made her younger in this dreamscape just to bring her closer to me but I thought her beyond intriguing when she was 60, seeing her as 40 made little difference about how I felt about her.

I realized that in this day and age she would have been a teen when she had married and gave birth to the princes. Silva or Steed...whatever his name was, wanted to marry her and I cannot let that happen. I wiped the sleep from my eyes as I continued to stare at her.

"Damn it...M...what happened?"

M smiled at me and laughed. Bloody hell...I really wanted to remember this! Better yet...I want to do it again...and again.

* * *

"How are they Dr. Ross?"

"Q what is going on? They should be awake. The drug has run its course but there is no sign of them coming out of this sleep trance. It has been over five hours of heavy deep REM sleep and that is not normal."

"I've been changing the frequency of the object to try to bring them out of it faster but the opposite seems to have happened. I don't think they are in too much risk but…"

"But what?"

"If their dreams are real enough and something happens…"

"Like a nightmare?"

"Yes exactly like that. If they should die...it may have repercussions. There have been times of distress in several of them. I will try some more and boost the signal but the dreams may become more and more lucid for them. I hope they can find a way to guide their dreams so that nothing horrible happens."

"Mallory would like an update. What do you want me to tell him?"

"Tell him your medical diagnosis. I will continue to work on the orb and hopefully they will wake up on their own."

* * *

The problem with dreams, was that they jumped around. Regardless of how stimulated you became with the object of your affection they tend to disappear or run away. M did that to me, never allowing me to quite catch her and she finally slipped out of bed. I reached for her but she slipped away before I could pull her into a kiss at least.

I suppose it made perfect sense. I've never captured M's lips in a proper kiss, nor made love to her in reality so there was no memory to draw upon in my dream. I instantly dread, that any erotic dream with her would make her turn into some other woman and that would not do.

A bell rang. "Come now James...hurry. My son has returned."

"Where was he? I thought him just drunk in the hall...or do you mean the other son? We will have time...M come back to bed...please." I sounded desperate even to my own ears. Even if I dreaded that M might became Vesper...it was well worth a shot to try to kiss her.

She slipped a dress over her shift and regarded me curiously as she pulled the belt and quickly fixed her hair. "M?"

"I mean Queen...Majesty. I don't know your proper name here." I plead, kneeling on the bed in front of her.

"Odelyn...but you must get up before Ælla find us together. He does not like…"

"I'm hardly the first then. Well I knew you were a widow but..."

"Do not slander me sir...I do not do this lightly but you implored me such voracity after insisting on more and more wine to be shared, that I could hardly stop you."

"Oh dear god...I didn't...did I?"

"Didn't what?"

"I didn't force you did I? M...Queen Odelyn please forgive my...clumsy drunk advances. I promise...I would never do that."

"You didn't force me but you were gloriously...voracious and forceful. Just as I would expect a Viking to be. But we must keep this from Ælla if possible." M hurried her toilette, trying to make it seem like she had not just been ravaged by a Viking under her son's roof.

M smiled at me as she busied herself about the room and it made my heart soar. She liked me!

By god but I wish I could remember having made passionate love to her. I got up and started to dress in some clean clothing that M's serving woman Alice had just brought in the room.

"Not yet James...take the dressing gown and go to the bathing room with Alice."

"Where did these clothes come from?"

"Mr. Tanner donated them for you and asked that you shave and have Alice cut your hair to appear more Saxon and less...Viking."

"I will have to thank Mr. Tanner when the three of us leave this place. You haven't seen Eve have you?"

"No James...this is not my dream and you would have to insert her into this situation." M suddenly became understanding of the root problem. She was not a conspirator in this dream, along with Tanner.

"Maybe we will find her on our way north."

"In all likelihood she could be in the village and will be wherever you want her to be...like me in bed with you this morning.

"I suppose that makes as much sense and suddenly becoming a Viking."

"James...why do you think must we leave?"

"We have to get away from Silva...the minister who wants to marry you."

"Why does he concern you so?"

"He wants to take you away from me and I can't...will not let that happen!" M looked taken aback at my sudden outburst.

"I'm not opposed to the idea...I hate the man. I'm positive he killed his wife just to marry me. It is unlikely that I can give him any children and he has three already so I don't understand why he murdered her for me."

"I'm sorry M...your majesty but he is absolutely obsessed with you. I will kill him before we leave so that we don't have to worry."

"No! If you do that James...my sons will insist you are killed and I cannot bear to think of such a thing." M's concern warmed my heart.

"Fine but you do not leave my side until we can depart. Have Tanner gather supplies and we will leave tonight."

"At night? No one leaves at night for fear of Viking raiders."

"You forget my love, I am a Viking raider." I realise suddenly that I just admitted to M that I love her...in my dream not to her but it was a truth to myself that I had never really wanted to admit before now.

"But you claim you are Saxon...from Londinium?"

"I am descended from Viking raiders, many Scots are. They raided and raped their way up and down the coasts for generations."

"We go to Scotland?"

"Yes for now...until Q can pull me out of this dream. I wonder if my real M is dreaming of me?"

"I'm sure I am. I mean; if the way we get along so well here is any indication we are lovers."

I cannot ask as Alice took me from M's chambers down a back narrow corridor that looked barely used.

It opened up to a room with a large pool. There are other servants her putting boiling water in the pool. Alice hands off the clothing to me and goes back to M. The door opened and a woman entered carrying some food for me.

I look up to see the face of our one mission player in this dream fiasco that we are living in. "Eve!"

"James...I'm ordered to get you ready. Bill said that your arrival has moved up the time table."

"Time table for what?" Now I'm getting confused. Eve is wearing a pencil skirt a blouse and high heels just as she was in London. She looked oddly out of place here in the dank of this underground pool.

"Hurray get clean and I will help you shave."

I did and within seconds of getting in the cool bathwater I cleaned myself. I got out and sat on a low stool as Eve worked her magic on my once more with a straight blade. Like before...I stared at her cleavage and smirked at her.

"This is a nice dream."

"I'll bet and where did you run through hidden corridors from James? Who's bed did you just climb out of? You know deep down...you may flirt with me but you have only ever wanted me as your friend. Your heart is lost to another."

Suddenly I cannot meet her eyes. "Yes. And Eve I enjoy having you as a trusted friend."

"I like that too James. I find it quite mature that you're openly admitting this to yourself. To add sex between us would take away from what you've always needed. A solid platonic relationship with a woman."

Tanner burst into the room wearing clothing of the period. "Hurray...get ready. The King wants to see you now!"

I managed with help to get outfitted and follow Tanner to meet the King. "Will M be in attendance?"

"She will...and he knows what you did. Steed will want you dead for this Bond."

"Fine! I'll duel him for her."

"It may not be that simple if the King wants you dead too."

"Get horses and everything ready with Eve, Tanner we leave tonight for Scotland and Silva will be dead...again."

To be continued...


	6. Tanner

**Chapter 6 Tanner**

The bullets whizzed past my head...008...I'm an agent...under deadly fire and I don't bloody know what I'm doing!

Bond yelled at me to get her out of there. I collected myself and dove across the divide to get the hysterically crying woman out of the line of fire. What could it hurt? It's only a dream!

A splinter of wood hit my ear and it did hurt! What the hell! I've already established that this hallucination is a dream and in no way should be able to hurt me. But it bloody did hurt!

"Meet you at the safe house!" 007 yelled, as he rushed their attackers. I trusted Bond to be able to take care of this and didn't even turn around, as I carried Greta out of the restaurant. I put her in the car and drove….miraculously to the safe house. At least I assume it was the safe house.

An old farmhouse in the countryside, how I even knew where it was, was a mystery of dreamland. The car was a Aston Martin 65 DB5, silver and an iconic British race car that I had discussed at length with Bond over the years. Not that this one was his...I just inserted it into my dream somehow.

It did nothing for me to question the vivid and sporadic nature of my dream. I do wonder if I will eventually become exhausted, just by the level of action that has continued during this dream. It was then that I notice an orb sitting on the mantle of the cottage.

The last I remember of the waking world was M's office and an orb that Bond was passing around...then...this.

The mission came back to me as the girl became Angela again. Angela's father Peter DeWitt was a contact that had been killed earlier today...as least I think he was. She fixed a meal and poured some wine for the two of us to relax in front of the fire until Bond managed to arrive or contact us.

The girl, Angela was no longer crying and very appreciative of the rescue which took my attention away from the orb. Kissing feels like it did in real life and everything that goes with it. Passion, arousal, desire were all the same, it was the details that became foggy. The girl became some faceless thing in my arms, as she morphed into every other woman I'd slept with since I was a teen. She even became women I had never slept with but worked with.

Then just as suddenly I was wrapped in just a blanket on the floor as Bond burst in. Angela was naked beside me and sat up pulling a gun on Bond. Bond shot her in the head!

Behind Bond Eve came with him. "She was a fake! This is the real daughter of DeWitt." Bond said pointing at Eve.

"Eve?" I stood and pulled on my pants and trousers as fast a possible. Blushing at the fact that Eve was in audience. The woman's body disappeared as the room shifted and changed. Bond and I were escorting Eve to M. We were back in London.

M sat at her desk like nothing was different. Something even more strange was that she was with the old M but seemed to be in charge.

"Good you're back. Now give your report Tanner."

I didn't know what to say but the four of us being in the same room together triggered a memory from before…

There was the silver orb on her desk. What would happen if I reached out and…

* * *

Q watched with the doctor as he activated the orb again. He had it in his protective gloved hands and touched it to Tanner's hand to gage his response.

"The brain waves changed for a moment but he did not wake." Dr Ross said.

"I can see that doctor. I have this in reverse but nothing. I think I have to go back to the drawing board and try to shock them out of it all at once. I will design enough for each and hope that will work."

"I will continue to monitor them and feed them intravenously. I get concerned by their elevated heart rate at times. Particularly M who's older and may not be able to ride out the stressed this is causing them as long as the others."

"Does she have issues with her heart?"

"No but her age is the main concern over the others." Ross said as he looked at M.

"I wouldn't worry about M's heart. She is made of sterner stuff than you could imagine. I've known her for over 30 years and she has gone through immense stress in the past. I'm sure she will rationalize that this is a dream she's trapped in."

"I will sedate her if I believe her levels are becoming dangerous to her."

"If they are trapped in a dream...they know it...they are looking for an escape. I think I've got it! I need to make them a door!"

"Metaphorically?"

'Yes! I need to make them link together and exit together. They are likely with versions of themselves and each other within the dreams."

"Yes...I've heard Bond cry out for M and Eve, Tanner just mumbled M so you may have something there Q."

"If their brain waves could be sync do you think they could cross into each other's dreams."

"I think we need Dr. Hall on this Q. That would be a stretch to imagine that they could share dreams but I've heard of brainwashing studies that have given a group a shared conditioned dream."

"Get Dr. Hall to meet me in my lab after you've given him the medical background would you please."

"I will Q. Do you want me to make a report to Mallory?"

"Not until he asks you. I'm not sure how much we should trust the man yet."

"Haven't you checked him out?"

"Of course I have...for M, ages ago. But I don't think she would want him to know or comment on what they are dreaming about. Nothing of a sensitive nature I hope?"

"Not that I've noticed. I have noticed, beside agitation of whatever action they are dreaming, the sexual arousal of both Tanner and Bond. That is completely natural in sleep."

"Yes...I see. Well I will go and work on the devices and you take care of their bodily functions." Q said as he left medical in a hurry.

* * *

Everything shockingly jumped in a moment. A buzzing as if I was electrically shocked happened and I was suddenly in the jungle with Eve. Bond and M were suddenly nowhere to be seen.

"What is going on now?"

"I don't know Bill...this is your dream...I'm just a passenger. Where are the others?"

"I don't know but I suppose we should look for them."

It was hot and I removed my jacket and tied it about my waist. Eve was in jeans and a white blouse, a look that I've always loved on her…head in the game Tanner...enough of that.

"I hope they aren't far." I said. "I wonder if the point of all this is for the four of us to find each other...then we will be able to leave this dream?"

"I think you may be right Tanner. You remember who you were with before all this happened?"

"Yes the four of us in M's office."

"Maybe that is where we have to go. The four of us together."

"Yes but you're not the real Eve….she is likely dreaming her own dream like me."

"So how do we meet the real M and Bond if they are all just the fabric of the dream like me?"

"I don't know."

We walked along what could only be described as a trail through the jungle and a rushing sound echoed suddenly as an opening came into view. We could hear talking and rushed forward to see Bond and M drinking water from the stream.

"There you are." I said to them. M was still in the mini skirt and outfit from the late 60's I saw her in. Her pixie hair still blonde. Beside her was Bond with his dress shirt openen as he splashed water on his chest. M held his hand as they climbed back up the bank.

Once he reached the top M did not let go of his hand. It was confusing to see...but it seemed so natural somehow.

"There you are." M said with a smile. "Now where do we go?"

"I think we should head for higher ground to get our bearings." Bond said and pointed to the right. There was a rock face in the distance so we began along the narrow trail. I lead and Bond took up the rear. I checked to see if I was still armed and I was.

"Eve, Bond do you have weapons?"

"Yes, we do, but M does not." Bond answered pulling out his Walther. Eve checked the sniper rifle slung over her back that I had failed to notice before. I patted my jacket pocket that was tied at my waist and pulled out a second Walther. I handed it back to Eve.

"Take this Eve incase the riffle is not useful or give it to M."

We worked our way through the forest of ferns to a rock face and we picked our way upward as a sudden animal sound rustled in the trees. There was a distant rumbling and a sudden roar.

We looked at each other and I yelled, "RUN!"

There was a bloody dinosaur chasing us. Bond turned back shooting at the T-Rex as we crested the rise and found a cave. The four of us bolted into the cold cave as the massive creature roared, stopped and searched for us. Sniffing the air as if to find out where we were.

"Bloody hell!" Eve said panting as hard as the rest of us as we pressed up against each other in the narrow entrance. I gave my jacket to M to ward off the damp cold. She was only dressed in a mini dress and the rest of us had suddenly changed into combat trousers and turtle neck jumpers. Standard mission gear all but M who was frozen in time in her knit 1960's mini dress.

"Search your pockets. We need matches and or a torch." Bond said. We all looked through what we had as M pulled a torch out of the pocket of the jacket I was wearing. Bond and Eve found bullets, ration bars and matches.

"Well...it looks like this cave is about to become home until we escape this dream or it changes." I said. M moved further into the cave using the torch. Her being the smallest assisted her travels.

M moved ahead of Bond and myself as she and Eve squeezed through the opening faster. It opened into a larger room. Bond asked for the torch and M handed it to him as he aimed it up to the ceiling. There was a small amount of light coming through.

"Good...if we need a fire it will allow the smoke out. Tanner we have to go out the way we came for wood. Eve and M can keep the torch...we can make out daylight on our way back. Try to find any other entrances and exits and be careful. Kill anything that moves, or slithers.

"Fantastic...just what I wanted to think about." Eve said as she took her pistol in hand. M used the torch as Bond and I went back outside. The T-Rex must have gotten bored of waiting for a quick snack.

"How the hell are we going to get out of this?"

"I don't know Tanner, it's your dream."

"Right." It was as if I had forgotten in all the excitement. Like the fact we found a habitable cave just as we needed it. We magically found the wood we needed as we made our way back. "We could be in for a cold night."

"I plan on snuggling up with M for body heat."

"Of course you will. By god, you're brazen even in my dreams Bond."

"Fine, I'll take Eve then."

"No you bloody well won't!" I said defensively.

"I knew you liked her!" Bond said or me really, since he was a manifestation from my mind.

"Just as I've always known that you've a crush on M. I heard about your breaking into her flat. She told me just incase you went off the rails and became a danger."

Bond became agitated and pushed me up against a tree. "I would never hurt her! I...I…"

"Relax James. I know that neither of us can articulate what we are feeling right now. Eventually Q will get us out of this and I think it has something to do with that glowing metallic orb."

"The one from M's office?"

"Yes."

The world seemed to bend and the four of us were now sitting around a fire that made lovely shimmering flickers on the cave walls.

To be continued...


	7. Eve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for taking so long to update but other stories crowded my head.

 

Our galloping towards the French forces in the north seemed to morph and change. We arrived quickly at our destination and were at the French camp now. Tanner and I watched M speak with others wearing the wigs and clothing that were popular at this time in history.

M was speaking animatedly in along with Bond in French and they were obviously upset with their attitude. Britain would find no help from the French against these revolutionaries even if the commander was M's nephew. History would repeat itself and France would support the colonists against King George.

There! A metallic orb on the desk. Nearly covered in maps and candle sticks. My focus was completely on the object as Tanner said something to me.

"Eve...what do you think M are Bond are asking?"

"I don't know French well enough to know. Bill...that orb on the desk do you?" I moved towards the desk and reached out to touch the strange glowing orb.

* * *

Suddenly there was a flash of light and I screamed. It was hot to the touch. There was nothing but darkness now and I felt suddenly alone again. I heard Q in the distance talking with someone else. The smell of antiseptic...like a hospital.

Light erupted again and I closed my eyes against the strong glare.

I was somewhere else? Not again!

* * *

I'm now in a horse drawn carriage with Bill and we're still in our period dress. Although mine was far more elegant than the servant clothing I wore earlier this time.

"Where are we?" I asked wonder what in hell had happened now?

"We are travelling in Transylvania...to Dracula's castle Mina. Don't you remember my sweet silly goose?"

"Mina? Oh dear god...are you...are you...Stoker's Jonathan Harker? Or Bill Tanner?"

"I'm your fiancée Jonathan Harker...silly...that must have been some dream. Who is this Stoker?"

"No one and yes...yes it was a crazy dream. So you don't know James Bond or M, our boss?"

"I don't know who you mean dear but we've been invited to stay at the house of a client of mine."

"This is not like the other dream...Bill are you sure you don't know that my name is Eve?"

"You're stressed and tired from all the travelling my dear. Just try to get some more rest before we arrive."

"Something tells me I've been sleeping for a while now. Look the castle!" I could see out the bouncing carriage that the massive castle was on a dramatic cliff. A typical nightmarish vision of a gothic structure amongst the mountains and trees.

Suddenly the carriage pulled up to front of the castle as dusk settled all around us. The heat of the summer and the sounds of the wilderness closing in on us was overwhelming.

My fear was palpable..."I've always hated horror movies." I said under my breath.

Damn it all! My breathing became erratic, in anticipation for the vampire I knew I was about to meet.

The door swung open not revealing Dracula but James Bond dressed entirely in black but a tuxedo, not the gothic inspired clothing Bill and I were wearing.

"Mr. Harker...wonderful to see you again...and who is this divine creature that you have brought me?"

"The pit that was forming in my stomach just got larger. What if Bond didn't know me...what if he really was Dracula! How will I be able to fight him off!

This was a gothic bloody nightmare! I felt hot...so hot I can't...I may faint because I'm breathing so hard.

Somehow I manage to continue and I don't pass out. This was all a hallucination and just a dream. I forced myself to calm my breathing, as Tanner began to speak to our host.

"This is my fiancée Miss Mina Murphy my lord. It was wonderful that you invited both of us. I heard of my employer's untimely illness and was unable to conclude your business."

How could Tanner be so...so...frustratingly normal standing in front of this version of James Bond? James' skin looked unnaturally pale and there was a difference in his eyes...the clear ice blue was now tinged with red...a dangerous red.

Oh god! I'm starting to freak out again.

Dear god...I hope he knows he's not really Dracula. A maid and a butler appeared to escort us somewhere else in the castle, towards separate rooms apparently. Even if I wanted to stay close to Bill, propriety intervened and we had to have different rooms. People in this class, at this time always refreshed themselves after travel and dressed for dinner.

On the way up the grand stair of the castle I became dizzy and was suddenly in a room alone. A gold ball gown hung on the bedpost and I found a large cross miraculously around my neck. Thank god what I wished for could become a reality in this dream. Now my only wish was that Tanner, M and Bond knew me and are more themselves than actual gothic horror monsters.

I've had no chance to examine the room in any detail, as a knock sounded and a woman's voice erupted out of the silence. M had come to help me, as either the mistress of the house or one of Bond's servants.

M was dressed as Bond was in formal attire yet it was modern compared to ours. M's dark blue gown fitted tightly in the bodice, showing off her abundant cleavage. M always was a pale woman and she was unnaturally so now.

"M?"

"I am Madam Omuluicamp." She said in extremely accented English. "I have been here since Lord Dracula returned to the castle.

"You look after the Castle?"

"Yes...you could say that."

"M...do you know me?"

"No my dear...should I have met you somewhere here in the Carpathian Mountains?" M asked incredulously. "I have not once left my home here...in hundreds of years may child."

"Hundreds of years?" I asked confused suddenly.

"An expression I assure you." M helped me out of the layers of the travelling attire I was wearing and into the gold evening gown. It looked wonderful in the mirror. M appeared in the mirror...perhaps she was not a monster after all, or maybe that lore was wrong. Still, the way that she looked at me made me shiver. M's blue eyes were tinged red like Bond's.

"You're both bloody vampires!" I blurted out.

M pulled back shocked. "I assure you dear that vampires are just a myth. Dinner will be served shortly. I will see you downstairs in a few minutes. I must see that the food is properly prepared."

"Oh...I will come with Tanner then." I said as I fidgeted nervously with my clothing. My hands instinctively reaching for the cross at my neck, anything to delay any of the inevitable horrors I may dream up in my head.

There was a knock at my door. I answered reluctantly, to see Tanner in a tux and holding his arm out to me. He enveloped me in a hug and a kiss. I pulled back somewhat shocked by his actions but it was not unnatural nor completely unwelcome. "Bill? Are you bill now? Please be my Bill Tanner."

"What's the matter dear?"

"We are in a castle with bloody vampires! That's what the matter is!"

"Mina...you're distraught over nothing. I am just having him sign a few papers and then we will leave as soon as possible. This is so unlike you? You are such a confident woman much of the time? It would seem extremely rude to dash off becuase of ancient superstition Mina, my love."

I looked at Tanner searching for some sort of recognition but he was hollow just like the others and I was terrifyingly alone.

I want to wake up! Please...let me wake now!

We walked down the stairs into the dining room and saw M. Only this time her appearance had changed. The clothing remained the same but M looked no more than in her late forties now. She was sitting regally in the throne like chair at the head of the table. Bond was leaning on the side of her chair, draped over her, as he lazily took his eyes from her to look at us entering the room and finding our seats at the table. Two servers stood silently still at either side of the room.

Bond and M had eyes only for each other at the moment. These two were obviously not the mother and son, I had assumed they were at first. The electricity between them was palpable and intense, he had just been kissing her neck when we arrived I could swear it. Tanner held me close as we looked at our pale host and hostess.

"Come...please sit." Bond said as he waved for one of the servants to pull a chair for me. I instinctively reached for the cross at my neck. It was a heavy reminder of my situation as the gold weight lay on my breast.

"You really didn't need to wear this trinket my dear." Bond said with a knowing smirk.

"Why because you can get past it anyway?" I asked.

"No because we would have the entirely of the British government down on us if anything happened to two members of your social class. We only devour the poor…don't we darling." James added with a smile as he looked down on M in the seat he rested on the arm of.

"How is it that your...mother is now younger looking?" Tanner...not really Tanner asked. Even as a fictional character he could sense that something was off finally. Or maybe my Tanner was pushing through somehow.

"An illusion of course and she is not my mother in the sense you mean. She made me but I was not born of her."

"When were you born?" I asked M directly. I could feel Tanner tense becuase of the rudeness of my abrupt question.

M laughed. "My dear child I have walked this earth since before Cleopatra's seduction of Caesar."

"Wow…" I said, because talking to this M...I could actually believe it. "You don't plan on killing us do you?"

"No, as my lover said, we are only looking for assistance legally for investment in property in Britain. We hope to visit your homeland...very soon."

"That is not reassuring." I said sarcastically.

The strange thing about food and drink in a dream...was no substance nor smell but you could still feel dizzy and nauseous apparently. Tanner ate and I just stared from my plate up at Bond hanging over M. He seemed intoxicated by her, happily mesmerized and willing to just lean on the arm of her chair, swinging his leg like he hadn't a care in the world. M pulled a glass of red liquid to her lips.

Wine, blood or whatever it was, stained her lips as red as the contents. It was a visually stunning effect, with her dark blue gown and her very white skin. M seemed to glow in the candlelight. James brought one of her hands to his lips to kiss.

Music played, coming from somewhere beyond the dinning room and it was strange and eerie as it echoed throughout the old castle. I had no idea if someone was playing it or it was a recording.

The room began spinning and the deep, dark, rich colours whirled around like a kaleidoscope. I was now in a parlour watching Bond dance with M. They moved with the practiced ease of lovers and it truly seemed like there was no one here but for the two of them.

Fine with me. I didn't fancy becoming a late night snack. I still dreaded this and wanted it all to stop. No more dreams and no more jumping into different realities. If I could not escape this completely I would at least like it to take me somewhere that my friends knew and helped me, like they had in the American Revolutionary war dream.

Tanner...Harker told me that I was being silly, as he took a sip of whatever it was he brought from the dinning room.

I refused to eat or drink in this place.

This room was large and lit mainly by a massive fire on the far wall. The shadows cast by the glowing light made the images on the art scattered throughout the room dance. They all moved in time to the dancing of the master and mistress of this somber gothic castle.

M and James stopped dancing and the two of them wandered towards us as if prowling towards helpless prey.

M glided to Tanner, holding her hand to him as the music become a strange waltz.

I've heard this song before in a film.  ** _Legend_**...Unicorns and dwarves...that was the film! And the girl danced with a demon called  ** _Darkness_**. It was a hypnotically eerie song...the innocent girl becoming dark for her evil lord's pleasure. That all made sense in this context.

M waltzed around the room with Tanner entranced with her. I saw the way Tanner looked at her and he was in some sort of daze and Bond seemed to have disappeared. My eyes were pulled to the dance. M laughed in Bill's arms as a sudden voice came from behind me making me jump.

"She is divine is she not?" Bond whispered in my ear.

"Her age seems to shift? How?" I asked in a hushed tone.

"You are seeing her as I do...her age is irrelevant to me. I see into her very soul. Age doesn't matter much, when you count the time in centuries and millennia. She's as stunning as an older woman, as she is closer to our age. And believe me she's impressive at any age. Not as much a shimmering beauty like you Eve, but classic, entrancing and seductive."

"You called me Eve?"

"That is your true name is it not...Mina?"

"Yes but…"

Bond's face was practically resting on my shoulder as we continued to watch M and Tanner waltz to the darkness. I could not pull away. It was a though I were rooted to the spot!

The music whirled and became louder, they spun faster and faster and as the crescendo was reached M's hand went to the back of Tanner's neck. It was as if she were about to pull Tanner to her mouth!

M had leaned back and laughed looking straight at me, as her incisors grew into needle like points. She bit into Tanner's neck artery like he was a ripe piece of fruit.

I screamed and screamed but no sound would come! I tried to scream for Tanner to get away, push M, throw her down, anything but I could not move! I was frozen in shock and horror!

I knew what was to come next.

Bond's lips were on my neck as my heart beat frantically in my chest, in an overwhelming panic. I slammed my hand against the table at my side. Anything to make a warning sound for Bill, anything for him to see and help me.

I tried to pull away from James and run but my legs were like led. I was numb and losing all feeling.

Gravity had me in it's grip, pulling me towards the ground. However, I did not fall but hung suspended effortlessly in the air.

There was a pinch, a sting and I could feel warm liquid leak down my neck. I tried to swat whatever horror away but my arms only hung limply at my sides.

I looked down and Bond's arm was wrapped around my middle holding my back up against his front. His body felt hard and cold pressed against mine as he too began to sway and dance me like a doll around the ghastly room.

Dear god...not this!

I'm living in a bloody nightmare!

Noooooooooooooo!

To be continued...


	8. Bond

**Chapter 8 Bond**

Bond looked down at himself and was shocked to see himself dressed in a white puffy shirt and matching breeches, with a dark blue jacket in a military style. At this moment he was climbing onto an extinguished chandelier with an audience beneath lighted only by the footlights of the opera.

Bond's tight fitted breeches, tall boots, dark blue waistcoat and navy military jacket and a white powdered wig, which he pulled off his head as he climbed atop the chandelier to get across the opera house to M.

Only for her...christ he would never do this intricate a disguise for anyone but M.

He had to swing over to her and get her away from danger, while she watched this performance from a private box. He's not really sure who was after her but he just had this feeling that something wasn't right.

In fact how did Bond even come to be here? Staring across the abyss at M with another man.

What show was this that they had to go in period dress just to see it? Not to mention that the chandelier he was currently climbing on was fitted with wax candles and not light bulbs.

He could see M sitting in an elaborate wig across from him in a dark plum gown. She was holding a fan up to cover herself demurely but it definitely failed on this occasion. The plunging neckline of the corseted gown made Bond growl and reposition himself to ensure his leap from one balcony to another is successful.

M didn't have a demure bone in her body yet she was using the fan as a shield between herself and the man sitting next to her.

The other thing that didn't make any sense was that, that man was not there two seconds ago. He had a large handlebar moustache and he kept moving his chair closer to M. It all seemed hazy, yet he was certain he was somewhere else only moments ago.

Bond's focus went from disjointed haze to gazing across the room to see M. She was in a costume that did more to feed his internal fantasies of her, than he thought possible. Bond had fantasized about her before but now...now things were different. More intense...more primal than ever before.

Now Bond was getting to the root of the problem. He was infatuated with his boss and this apparent dream was just further proof that his mind worked faster in subconscious than in reality.

Until recently, Bond thought that she hated him, until Skyfall. Something had obviously been changing between them, because he swore that he was just a viking raider and M the dowager English Queen that he made love to.

Where did that come from?

Now his focus was on the bastard beside M who was leaning towards her with his hand on her knee.

M appears shocked so he couldn't be her husband. Good! Bond hated when M had a living husband...it made what he wanted to do to her harder to accomplish, because of her deep sense of morality.

Then again, perhaps he imposed that deep sense of morality on her. Maybe that was how he reconciled his respect for her. This was the reason Bond refused to try anything while M had a husband at home.

Bond had never bloody well cared about any other woman's husband, fiancé or boyfriend before.

Bond clasped the chain as he ran and jumped up on the chandelier, swinging over towards the balcony box with M inside. He launched himself through the air and dramatically landed on his feet in her viewing box. However, momentum made him lurch forward and fall face first into M's rude companion, knocking him to the floor.

M jumped to her feet in shock and the man beside her grumbled about needing satisfaction.

Bond clasped M's arm and pulled her up against him as he pulled her from the private box.

"Who are you? What the hell do you think you're bloody well doing? I will have you sent to prison for this affront!"

"M why do you always have to be so….so...you!" Bond didn't actually know where he was taking her, he just knew he had to get her out of the reach of that man. He didn't know where the feeling came from but the large blond man with the malicious smile...wait...he knew him!

"Silva!" Or was it? It was as if the man's face changed before his eyes.

"Lord Silver? He was kind enough to invite me and my son but my son took ill at the last moment."

"I'm sure he did."

"And what exactly are you inferring by that?" M dug in her heels and tried to pull away from her abductor.

"Could you just for once woman, not fight me?" Bond looked around the foyer of the opera house as he wondered where to do and what to do but….but…"

"Let me...go! Help! Someone!"

Some began to approach them looking at them as Bond tried to pull her from the public setting.

"Come now mother...you can't keep disappearing from home. Father is worried sick. The medicine that the doctor gave you is making you confused and you have to come home as he is too ill to come get you." The men that were coming towards them suddenly halted their progress taking Bond's words immediately over M's cries for assistance.

"Liar! Help! This is not my son. I am Lady Margaret Percy...sister of the Duke of Northumberland!"

"M would you please be quiet...don't you recognize me? Bond, James Bond your agent."

"Agent? Agent of what? Ruining operas?" M quipped sarcastically.

Bond waved his hand for a hansom cab as he pulled M into the stopped carriage.

"Where too?" The cabby asked.

Bond didn't know. "Just drive."

The carriage lurched forward. "Where do you live M?

"Why do you keep calling me M? I have a title and you should respect your elders enough to use it!"

"M...I do respect you more than anyone but I need to get somewhere safe where I can figure out what is going on. This is just a dream...I think...because I have no idea how I got here, yet this time it seem more coherent and well...real. The smell of the horses is vivid, not to mention the cabby."

"Well, I did have my own carriage and now my son will be concerned when it arrives without me."

"I would never hurt you M...I love...I mean I would never ever hurt you."

M looked at him in the dim light from within the cab. "What do you mean by that? Love...love me? Goodness; I'm old enough to be your mother. I can see that you are a handsome man and to any other, if you had the proper lineage and standing you could marry my niece. I've never heard of a Bond family of any importance."

"I'm Scottish."

"Dear god even worse! You don't sound like one? Are you sure?"

"Aye and my mother was Swiss." Bond hit her with his thickest accent mimicking the old gamekeeper from home.

"How unusual."

"Yes well I am a goodly combination of the both. In our time...where we are from...standing doesn't matter in affairs of the heart."

"What! Not matter! Dear me! It is the only thing that matters in society! Without it...it would mean...poor breeding. If where you are from it doesn't matter It should, there is too much variation of nature…"

Bond silenced her with a sudden passionate kiss. The cab stopped and Bond pulled away from a very shocked M. He pulled her out of the cab and paid the cabbie. M was flustered as she rushed to get out of the carriage.

"CAD! Pirate! How dare you! My son will never allow you to enter this house and the authorities will be here soon, i'm sure." She protested as Bond smiled down at her. M was delightfully flushed in embarrassment after that kiss. He could always sway a woman senseless with his kiss and having it work suddenly on M was a treat.

"We are not even going inside M. I have to get you out of London and we can be alone...I need to tell you things...things that…"

As they stood in front of the house a carriage pulled up. "My carriage." M said.

"Good tell them to get ready we're headed to Gretna Green."

"We will do no such thing!" M said indignantly as she put her hands on her hips. Just then, the door of the house opened and a maid exclaimed suddenly. "Mistress! Where have you been?"

The maid was Eve…a man pushed past Eve.

"Mother! Who is this man!" Her son was Tanner.

"Tanner stand down. I'm taking M to Scotland to keep her safe."

"Safe...safe from whom?" Tanner said arrogantly.

Tanner asked and he tried to get near M and take her away from him. Bond's hand went for his gun that had suddenly and annoyingly historically accurately had become a dueling pistol.

Bond pointed it at Tanner and M exclaimed, NO!" As Eve screamed for help.

"I am taking her away from that man at the theatre...he is not a good man and he wants to kill her."

Tanner paled and grasped the banister in a sudden swoon.

"William!" M exclaimed as she came forward and grasped him. As the two of them sank towards the stairs a galloping horse sounded and a shot rang out. It hit the stair just above M and her son.

M had not the strength to hold Bill upright as he collapsed and it may have saved her life. Unless that shot was for Bond or Tanner and not her.

Bond whirled around getting a shot off but missing. "Bloody antique! Get in the carriage M. Bond said as he picked up Tanner. Eve arrived at the door with two bags in her hand.

"Eve?"

"Yes Sir...I threw some of m'lady's clothes and essentials in a bag and then I heard the shots."

"Good get in!" Bond tossed the bags up to the driver. "Scotland...go now!"

"But mister...it's evening already...there may be bandits!"

"Aye there may be but I'm up to the task. Here take this pistol and I will be up to join you in a bit just get started." Bond jumped in the back with Eve, M and a sickly Tanner. The carriage began to rock as it took off as speed.

M must be from wealth as the seats in this carriage are nice and well padded. Eve sat with M on one side with Tanner laid out on the other. Bond crouched in the entrance.

"Are you good?"

"Who the hell are you?" Tanner questioned while sitting up so that bond could sit with him.

"The man between you and a man who wants to kill your mother."

"William! Language. I didn't raise you to speak like that! He thinks your old friend Mr. Silver wants me dead."

"What? Why?"

"I have no idea dear. We've know Mr. Silver since your father was alive."

Bond's brows rose as Tanner coughed from his illness. "How long has your husband been dead?"

"Just two years have past. This was my first outing not in mourning clothes." M asked shocked by his personal questions.

"And he just invited you to the opera and you didn't think that it was a date?"

"A date? What is a date? He had tickets for him and William but they stayed out too late in the rain the other night and he caught a horrible cold and I've always told him that his constitution could not tolerate such things but he never listens." M protested.

"What are you getting to Mr...Mr...what is your name?" Tanner said wearily.

"Bond, James Bond."

"I've heard of you!" Eve exclaimed.

"You have!?" Bond, M and Tanner all asked at once.

"Yes…,m'lord, m'lady. This is the infamous spy who is working with the Prince to root out revolutionaries, like the ones that overthrew the king in France."

Bond was confused but then as if what Eve said fed his memory as if reading a dossier and finding out all about himself. His oddly jumbled excuse for needing to get M away from Mr. Silver...Silva...whatever the name ringing around in his mind was, had foundation and now Eve just gave him the excuse he required to get her out of London. Although, he would have prefered it was just the two of them but then again...Tanner and Eve seem to have been in the room when…

"Oh my; the one in the paper?" M said appraising him differently.

"The Prince is obsessed with revolutionaries, I can only think that it may led to incidents if he keeps up his paranoia. Ever since the colonies broke away. If you are one of the Prince's secret service do you have any papers to prove it?"

There was something in his memory...they were in her office. A glowing globe and a shock and now he was jumping from dream to dream yet the underlying dread of getting her away and this Mr. Silver. He had no idea from what depths this man came from his psyche but the towering man was a danger he could feel it. Dear god was this man a representation of Silva! Was this why Bond was driven to take M back to Scotland?

Bond had never met the man before, maybe this Silver was the culmination of all the bad men that Bond had killed, or beaten over the years, including Silva.

Bond sat beside Tanner and nodded to them as he dug into his waistcoat for some identification. Miraculously he found a small leather bound book. He opened it and found a folded piece of paper with the signature of George the Prince Regent, future King George the fourth.

Tanner handed back the identification and Bond gave it to M. "Why are you handing this to me?" M asked.

"Because where I'm from, it is you that gives me my missions for the monarch."

"What!" They all exclaimed.

"Come on. One of you must remember. Eve you are M's secretary and Tanner, you are her chief of staff."

"That's insane!" Tanner exclaimed. "My mother a master spy?"

"Yes she is that."

The carriage slammed to a sudden stop.

The strange thing about dreaming was the way that they rarely flow in any logical sense of time but in some cases that was good and in this case disastrous.

Bond jumped down from the carriage to face the men, his pistol spent and the driver dead at his feet.

Tanner had tossed him a sword from within the carriage as he stood before five riders masked with hoods on. The tall one in the centre commanding all his attention.

"Stand down King's man and you will be left alive, injured but alive."

"Mr. Silver I presume. What do you want with M?"

"M? Oh I see...Margaret. Well that should be easy to deduce for a man of your apparent, yet irritating tallents."

At that moment Tanner managed to right himself after a coughing fit and exited the carriage with another sword.

"What do you want with my mother?"

"That is none of your concern, I didn't want to have to explain my attraction to her."

"Attraction to money you mean!" Tanner quipped.

"I have money but I want your mother. It is not that strange, she is just in her fifties and although too old to bare children, I am attracted to her nonetheless. She and I are not really that far apart in age. Margaret dear, please come out and bring your maid. We head to Gretna Green and will marry immediately."

"I will not marry you!" M said haughtily as she climbed out of the carriage and one of Silver's men helped her and took the bag from Eve. Another grabbed Eve and she screamed and he took her over and lifted her up in front of another man.

Tanner held onto M but they put a pistol to his head. "I will kill your son in front of you if you don't come with me now my darling." Silver said reaching down from his horse with his arm.

It was at this moment where he was unbalanced that Bond nodded to Eve and she seemed to understand what to do. She screamed drawing attention to her as she elbowed and pushed the man holding her. As he fell to the ground she grabbed his pistol and shot him in the chest.

Bond lept for Silver's arm, trying to yank him from his horse with plans on running him through with his sword. But the man righted himself and spurred his horse taking off at a gallop.

Tanner stabbed at the man near him coming to help M up onto the horse and the sudden commotion made the carriage horses sprint away and the other men struggle to keep their horses calm.

Bond grabbed his pistol off the driver's seat and one that fell from Silva's saddle and shot the two on horseback. Eve calmed her horse and M just stood looking around in amazement.

Suddenly it was as if she came too and she looked at them and the men on the ground and said, "well done." With a nod of her head.

"I think it prudent that we get away from here before he comes back for me. Where do you suggest Bond?"

"Scotland. The must have just built that house at Skyfall by now...or I can spur the process along. We should be safe there until we can figure out what needs to be done about these spies M."

"Well you know me Bond, I know what to do with spies." M said with a smirk. It was as if she had just become the woman Bond knew in the span of seconds.

"M...are you, you?"

"Yes...but not real. I am your representation of me. I will act like M but in the respect you are hoping for most I will be more compliant."

"What does that mean?"

Eve smiled and winked at Bond. "James that means that if you want to kiss her she won't argue and push you away for being an idiot."

Bond felt elated as he pulled M into a deep blissful kiss. The feeling was just about to overtake him when the dizziness hit and the vision swirled. Bond could hear Q's voice from far away.

This was not his M. He had to find the real M, Tanner and Eve. It was a dream quest and he was positive that it was the only way that they would get out of whatever dream realm they had been sucked into. Not that he was complaining about getting a chance to snog M.

Bond was positive that orb was the centre of this and they all need to find each other somehow. If Q could put them in this state he hoped to hell he could join them somehow to find the door home.

It was just like Alice through the looking glass.


	9. M

M had always loved the sea. From the time she was very little, on family vacations. However, she found throughout her life that travel by made her ill...horribly sick.

Even if in the back of her mind she knew that this was all a dream...it was a sickening, tossing and turning dream.

M kept up hope that this would end soon and she would wake up. The shock of having heard her own dead father's voice seem to rise out of the recesses of her mind and disturbed her greatly.

The pain of seeing and losing him in such violence and tragedy had made her angry, after the anguish had eased. That had never really happened to her dear father, no that had been her life not his. Having see the photographic evidence of murderous crime scenes from the aftermath of missions her agents had been sent on, had scarred her mind in more ways than one.

Now she was with a representation of Q and Tanner on a boat headed for the South Pacific or the Caribbean. The first mate and the other crew milled about the deck. Tanner was playing her brother and not her husband, thankfully. Tanner was her chaperone along with Q her uncle.

Q was experimenting with trying to bridge the reality of her vivid dream, back to the real world. He told her as much. The moment things would seem to make sense the world seemed to shift and she was right back down the rabbit hole.

Members of the crew treated them well. Mainly due to the fact that Q was helping the Royal Navy with some secret mission. M had yet to see the captain or commodore of the ship but one of at least one of the master's she thought he was, interfaced with her party. He wore a blue frock coat and bore a striking resemblance to Gareth Mallory.

M plopped down in the chair Mallory had brought over to her.

"I see that you are still not settling in well Miss Olivia."

"No...I never was good at sea voyages. I prefer to fly."

"Wouldn't we all if that were possible." Mallory chuckled. She forgot that this was the 19th century, by the blue frock coat he wore was from Nelson or Wellington's Royal Navy. She wondered if Napoleon had been defeated yet?

"If you would allow me to escort you about the deck Miss Olivia, you may feel better with the distraction." Mallory said offering her his arm. Olivia took him up on his offer as they moved around the deck of the ship.

"Mallory!" A voice shouted from the upper deck. They paused and turned to look and Olivia's breath caught in her throat. James Bond in full naval finery was staring down at them with a severe expression.

"The Captain would like to see you and Miss Q."

Bond looked suspicious of her and undeniably handsome in his uniform. Mallory helped Olivia climb the steep steps upwards as he handed her arm off to Bond. Olivia felt a jolt when her hand touched Bond's arm. He guided her toward the map room off the upper deck.

Once they entered the room, Bond's look of confusion took on a stranger look of shock and interest as they stared at each other until Q's voice broke through the odd situation.

"Ah...there you are my dear. Good. Lieutenant Bond, thank you for fetching her for me."

"No problem Mr. Q. Wasn't the captain due to be meeting with you now?"

"Yes...well. Perhaps he is just delayed." Olivia sensed hesitation in Q's voice and believed that something more may have happened. Something seems wrong with Q who didn't like the mention of the captain at all.

"I will go see to the captain then." Bond said releasing Olivia's arm. M felt a loss when he let go. The look on Q's face was cautious as he looked around. "Tanner should be joining us in a moment."

"What is going on. Have you figured out how to get through this weird dream scape?"

"Something is on the horizon my dear. Did you notice the change in Bond?"

"Yes...the moment I touched him he looked like he knew me...but as M."

"Yes...I'm breaking through and he is the real Bond...not an imagination. Let's see if we can do the same with Tanner when he gets here."

"What will this accomplish?"

"A bridging between dreams my dear. I have been working on making a stable dream and this is it. You may dip in and out of it to other dreams but this one is my working bridge so to speak."

"Good. So I assume you are monitoring our actual bodies?"

"Yes, and other than elevated levels of serotonin on occasion and some fluctuations in heart rate, you are all fine. I've been using the orb that sent you all into dream state to create this stable place."

"Good, I hope it works. Not that I mind being 20 again, I'm just not use to this kind of attention at my age."

"Oh tosh...my dear you are as lovely at 60 than you were at 20 and not just I think so."

Olivia blushed as Tanner came in the map room that Q had been given as a lab of sorts.

"Miss." He bowed over her hand as he kissed it. There was a small shock between them. "Olivia...wait...no...M? What is going on?"

There you see...Tanner and Bond are now officially here." Q uncovered something on the table and M recognized it right away.

"The orb...the one in reality. Not the one that Silva came for in the pub? I think he took a version of it before...the fire." M added, concerned.

"Not to worry about that. The orb would be the attempt at your mind to create a logical interpretation of what is going on in all of your dreams. Mainly because it was the last thing each of you saw and touched. This one will be your conduit back to the real world. At least I think and I hope it will be."

"This part of the dream is moving in a linear and logical fashion all of a sudden Q" Tanner said.

"Yes but now we are waiting for Miss Moneypenny to arrive. Once the four of you are together...this could work. But I doubt that she will materialize out of thin air, in the middle of the Atlantic. I don't know how we will get to her." Q adds.

There was a knock at the door and Tanner moved to open it. Bond was standing on the other side. "The captain would like to see you now." The confusion on his face was telling. It was as if Bond was having the most difficult time crossing over from wherever he was.

"Bond? Do you recognise M and Tanner?" Q asked.

Bond's brows furrowed deeply. "No...yes...M...she is...I was with her…"

"Yes Bond. I know that I don't look like you remember. I appear younger here, because this is a continuation of my dream and I am as I was...if that makes any more sense."

"Yes...it does." Bond approached her and held his hand out to lightly touch her face. "I was rescuing you in my dream."

M was confused by the intense look on his face as he touched her. Q cleared his throat to bring them all back to attention.

"Yes well...you have to let go in that dream, to come more solidly to this one 007."

"But...it's a good dream…"

"What are you doing Bond? Having M yell at you for destroying things." Tanner said with a laugh.

"No…" Bond said still staring at young M. He dropped his hand back down to his side as he absently said…"she was a...queen and we're in bed celebrating…"

"Bed!" Tanner exclaimed as Q grabbed his arm and shook his head to have him stop questioning Bond. "We need to go meet the captain now." Q ushered Tanner out the door allowing M a moment with Bond alone.

"In bed eh?"

"Yes...I rescued you…"

"And then...as in all your missions with a woman...we ended up in bed?" M said with a smirk. "Well I suppose I will have to remind you that you do not manage to rescue all the damsels Bond. You often you just walk away and leave them."

"I...I...I don't think I would ever have the strength to lose you M...nor the strength to walk away."

"Easy for you to say in a dream Bond but you and I both know that reality is far different and I'm old enough to be your mother out there."

"It still wouldn't matter to me M." Bond said, as he turned towards the door. He opened it and waited for M to pass through.

M was momentarily blinded by the sun, as they made their way out onto the deck. The Captain was facing the open sea, his back to them but he was tall and lean. He wore his hair long and it was pulled back but M could see the chestnut curls and her heart sped up.

M looked to Q to see the distress on the poor man's face. A massive pit became evident in her stomach as the captain turned to greet her. M became light headed, her breathing had become erratic much like when she saw her father. Now she was standing facing the handsome young face of her dead husband.

"Pleasure to meet you...Miss Olivia." He bent over her hand and kissed it. M couldn't even speak and Tanner and Bond looked on in confusion.

"Nigel?" M asked cautiously.

"Captain Nigel Mansfield at your service my dear...wife?" Nigel looked confused but then smiled.

Bond looked from one to the other as did Tanner. The realization that this was the manifestation of M's departed husband coming over them both. Tanner smiled and Bond frowned.

Q was busy trying to get them all to focus again as he pointed out that there was a ship in the distance coming their way.

M wanted desperately to leap into Nigel's arms but the approaching ship had his attention more than her. Nigel began barking orders and looking through a spyglass at the approaching ship.

"Damn it! Mallory...call all hands!" Mallory did as told and the crew began running about.

"Bond would you kindly stay with my...with my...wife and guard her with your life. This pirate crew is about to try to board our ship." Nigel wrapped an arm around her middle pulling her towards him as he leaned down and kissed her lightly. M was frozen and wished for that moment to freeze in time. It felt like a warm whisper from her past and she wanted...no...needed it. She needed more time! Dear god please give them a few minutes more.

Bond's hand was on her arm and pulling her away. He was confused and angry that their embrace resembled the cover of a romance novel that Bond never wanted to read. The dashing captain and his beautiful fair haired...wife?

"M...Wife?" Bond asked the captain in confusion, while still obeying orders.

"Yes Bond, my wife now do as I've asked." The captain said icily. "Don't think that I haven't noticed the way you look at her. That's why I've chosen you to watch over her...because...love is the best motivator.

"Why would pirates dare to attack a Royal Navy ship?" Tanner asked, suddenly diverting the suddenly uncomfortable conversation between the two officers.

"Something or someone they want is onboard." Q said as he held the orb up and placed it in a burlap bag. "Tanner, 007 guard this as well. I think I may end up on the bad end of this. Find Eve and touch the orb at the same time and you should make it back."

"What if we don't?" Tanner asked.

"You may be stuck in your minds for longer."

"But Nigel?" M whispered just loud enough over the din for them to hear.

"You must let him go M. You know that he's not really here. That he's been gone over a year. You know that as well as your father was just an echo of your memory of him."

M began to cry. "Yes...but...but."

Q grasped her hand. "I know it's hard M but you have to come back to reality. We need you out here too. We need all of you back!" As Q finished there was a jarring smash on the ship as the other one rammed it.

Screaming and yelling of Pirates clashing with the Navy. The cries of the dying and injured. Bond tossed a sword to Tanner and pulled M into the map room closing the door. Q was gone...as if he apparated away and out of danger.

"M...what was that...with the captain? Bond asked intently.

"That was my late husband Nigel. As this is my dream that you and Tanner have entered, it stands to reason that it would be filled with faces familiar to me. Even Mallory is here.

"Yes but...I remember my last dream and you and I…"

"We what Bond?" M said testily with her hands on her hips.

"Well…"

"What happens in your dreams is exactly that...your dream Bond."

Bond looked downright disappointed and that surprised M. He couldn't possibly be jealous of a ghost could he? Over her? Was this really the real 007?

"I would have at least liked the chance M. I don't like to be dismissed as an annoyance or jokester when I'm clearly deeply interested in someone. You of al people should understand that what I do on the job is not who I am. You've not turned me completely into the monstrous murderer that you order around."

"I never said you were! And never expected this...whatever it is...directed towards me!"

"Damn frustrating woman!"

"Presumptuous arrogant...agent! I'm bloody well old enough to be your mother!"

"I never wanted you to replace her...I want you...everything about you."

"This is all just a strange dream." M stated.

"Don't walk away from this M! You know that Q managed to get out minds together...so you know the truth of it now. You know that I want you like no other woman, just the same as I know that Tanner has a crush on Eve."

"Can we concentrate on the task at hand please." Tanner pleaded.

A pounding sounded at the door as a booming voice was heard, as the sounds of fighting stopped.

" _I WANT THE GIRL NOW OR THE CAPTAIN DIES!"_

A shiver crawled up M's spine as she heard it and Bond met her eyes. Mallory burst through the door sporting a cut oozing blood on his cheek.

"M! It's Silva….he has Nigel! And even worse...Eve is one of his Pirates!"

"Take this M." Bond handed her a knife as he drew his sword. "Tanner you get Eve and I will try to kill Silva...again."

Tanner handed M the burlap bag Q had given him. "Here M, keep this here and I will bring her in, I promise."

"Not likely. I plan to kill Silva this time Bond!" M said looking ready for a fight regardless of the early 19th century clothing she wore.

"M you can't leave this room. Stay in here and watch the orb. I cannot have you killed even if it's in just a dream."

"We don't even know what will happen to one of us, if we die in our dream M." Tanner argued.

Mallory had disappeared from the room, likely outside guarding the door or trying to save the captain.

The sound of a pistol shot sounded from out on the deck somewhere. M darted past Tanner and Bond and out the door.

"Damn it M!" Bond followed to see most of the crew was gone. He supposed in a dream the bodies would just disappear. Mallory's body hung limply over the rail behind Silva. Mallory must have tried to charge Silva.

Nigel Mansfield was now without his blue frock coat and hat, he knelt by Silva who had a pistol near his head.

"Well...well...well. So your wife  ** _is_**  on board the ship. M so glad that you are here. So young and lovely. I will enjoy this far more than I had anticipated. Eve, go find and bring me the orb, so that she can't escape me. You men shackle Bond and her Chief of Staff and put them on our ship."

"Tiago leave them all alone...this is just a dream...one that I can control. Let us go!"

"M come to me and I won't shoot the head off your handsome husband!"

"Olivia...darling...don't. Bond I told you to protect her with your life!"

"I plan to sir."

Eve and Silva's men approached them, climbing the steps to the upper deck but Tanner and Bond stood at the ready to fight them.

Eve was in the lead but she seemed to look confused the closer she came to them. The reality of the four of them in the same place must be working her out of her own dream into M's.

Eve looked down at herself and quickly put a hand to her throat feeling for a vampire bite.

"You are sacrificing your husband for yourself and your new agents? Well...well...well, how your attitude has changed over the years M."

"Pirates? Bond...Tanner...M!? Is that really you?" Eve exclaimed as she turned on the men with her with shackles. She kicked one back down the steep stairs and shot one and then Tanner and Bond surged to help her. The melee continued to escalate as the struggle ensued. The three agents closed around M keeping her in the middle.

M looked out at the face of her greatest enemy as he met her eyes he smiled and shot Nigel in the head.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" M screamed as she pushed through Tanner and Eve to get to Nigel. Even in the back of her mind she knew he was already gone. He had been gone for over a year and she still couldn't get use to his absence.

M wanted a chance to say goodbye properly, even if this was all just in her head.

Silva smirked as he lunged forward to yank her off the stairs and over his shoulder. "Retreat! I've got what I came for!"

"But what of the ship captain?" Silva's man said.

"M is worth more than this or any ship. They won't be able to catch us."

"Let me down you bastard!" M had barely held on as he tossed her over his shoulder and managed to drop the knife that Bond had given her.

"Not on your life M. This time I will have time to enjoy my revenge."

As Silva moved M saw Nigel lying on the deck near Mallory. She was so close...even dangling over the giant man's shoulder she could almost touch him again.

The anguish tore at her chest. Fear, loss, grief and anger swirled like her vision. M could feel that she was beginning to lose consciousness. Silva actually grabbed a rope and began to swing over towards his ship.

M looking down, about to blackout, just made out the sea beneath them as the last thing she saw. Somehow that was better than seeing her dead husband lying on the deck of the ship.

Bond screamed as he ran through another pirate. "Tanner release whatever men you can we have to go after them!" He hoped to hell that losing M wouldn't send them back into individual dreams yet again.

To be continued...


	10. Tanner, Eve and Bond

**Chapter 10**

"Damn it!"

Bond looked out over the ocean at the retreating ship and then around the ship they are on. It was in desperate need of repairs. "Fuck." Bond then said under his breath.

"Where still here?" Eve asked confused. She was still dressed as a scruffy looking pirate, having been part of Silva's crew before realizing herself into M's dream.

Tanner picked up the sac at his feet. "I think I know why."

"Why?" Bond asked, moving toward him.

Tanner pulled the orb out of the burlap sac Q had given them and Silva had a pirate grab as he took M.

"But how?" Eve asked.

"The last thing that M said before Silva took her away was, that it was her dream and that she was in control." Tanner explained to himself as much as to Bond and Eve.

"So M sent the orb to us to keep us together." Eve remarked. "To keep us near her in her dream?"

Bond grimaced. "We would have dissolved back into whatever nightmares that blood thing sent us into."

"What are we going to do? M may not even still be here. We aren't really sure how this all works...I mean we've no frame of reference for dream travel. It's not like we can even guess what might happen. Like if were were in a television show or film. I could fancy a guess at where we would be going and what to expect if it was Dr. Who, a police drama or even Star Trek for that matter." Tanner said.

"I think it will keep us wherever she is but to be sure, let's see what happens if the three of us touch it together." Eve suggested.

"NO!" Bond yelled. "If we do that, it may make the door that leads us back home. Then we've all but left M to fade away in here by herself. In the grasp of her worst bloody nightmare! It would be a living hell. No; I will not leave without her. You two go...go get Q to bloody well fix this mess and maybe try to come back in to help."

"No...I won't leave!" Eve said just as abruptly. "Listen James Bond; I'm pretty sure that you saved me from Vampires. And I saved you from marauder highwaymen." Eve exclaimed.

"I remember! I think the we've been drifting in between each of our dreams the entire time. The moment you mentioned Vampires...I remember the cold mountain air." Tanner said.

"We need each other and if anything, three of us will make this move faster than just one. We have to save M!" Eve exclaimed.

"Not to mention, the fact that every horror film I've ever watched had the individual picked off one by one, when they went somewhere alone." Tanner added. "So what do we do first?"

"We fix this ship and get after them." Bond said as he picked up a piece of wood that had been shattered in the cannon fire from the pirate ship.

"I don't know much about fixing ships but I suppose you can put us all to work now that you are captain Bond." Tanner suggested. "Maybe M will help if she is controlling this dream then maybe it will be like a montage scene in a show."

"Bill I think that you watch entirely too much telly but I do agree with you. The laws of physics don't seem to apply here and time is relative to M's moods. Let's just hope that the sea remains calm or I will be sick even if this is a dream." Eve remarked.

"Yes, so now that I'm captain let's get to work fixing my ship."

"Try not to let it get to your head Captain Bond." Eve Smirked. "Even if you do cut a handsome figure in your uniform and britches." Eve added with a wink.

"Hey now." Tanner protested jealousy. What about me little miss pirate wench?"

"Wench!?"

"You two get a grip. We've work to do."

"So serious all of a sudden Bond. This is a surprise." Tanner added.

"Not really Bill. Bond's in love and that bastard Silva just took her to who knows where doing who knows what…"

"Eve!" Tanner exclaimed reaching out to touch her arm in warning while shaking his head. None of them needed to speculate on what was happening to M right now.

"Yes but it's that luxury of time thing that may be all of our downfalls. Q came in here for a reason and something tells me that we need to take control of this situation and get out of here soon." Bond said. "Alright crew! We need to make all haste after that ship! Come on then...get the lead out!" Bond began barking orders at the crew and they all began to scurry.

* * *

Q looked around his desk and found his small tools that he uses for very fine work. He just woke up from a 5 hour nap after being ordered by Mallory to take one. He didn't have the time nor inclination to make it home.

Every young employee from Q branch had been called in to help deal with this disaster. Q was certain he would be put out to pasture as soon as he retrieved M and the others. He had known M a long time and although it was Bond's fault that he absent mindedly took the orb to her office, Q would feel accountable.

M had a soft spot for Bond and she would never give up a good agent for such a mistake. Q on the other hand should have put it back in the safe. He had become very forgetful of late.

Q had been experimenting with entering the dreamscape with the others and thought that the last time he came closest to drawing the four of them together. Taking a duplicate of the original orb into the dream with him had been the hardest thing to overcome.

Q had a talented friend of his hypnotise him into believing the object was real enough to produce it and give it to the others on the ship in that dream. What you believe becomes real and whatever can manifest itself as true in the swirling images of a dream.

Although, vivid dreaming doesn't happen often, it could help them all in this circumstance. In this strange occurance, it helped him deliver the portal to link and awaken them.

Q had the doctors give them medication to induce a dreamless sleep to allow their minds to rest. The agitation of strong dreaming that you cannot awake from was running havoc on their systems. Even though M was a tough woman it was far more dangerous for her considering her age.

Gareth Mallory was back to inspect the now sleeping troops and to check in on his progress. Q could see that his young grand nephew Quintan was speaking with him out in the lab.

That lad had the markings of a great Quartermaster, even if it was nepotism that Q recommended him to M at his last scheduled review meeting.

Q exited his office and moved to his nephew and Mallory in the lab. "I see that you've come down for a report."

"Yes. The doctors report that they are now sleeping calmly. How are you doing? I hear that you were ordered to sleep for a while."

"Yes...yes quite. I am fine and I think that I may have given them what they need to break out of this dream."

"What? Why didn't you call me right away?" Mallory said abruptly.

"I….I'm sorry but I didn't think you needed every little update." Q explained somewhat perplexed by Mallory's attitude.

"Just make sure to keep me informed from now on. I need to know the second M wakes up."

Q merely nodded and looked at his pad as Mallory saw himself out. Q watched as he left Q branch and buzzed his nephew, who came right away.

"Lad...what did Mallory speak with you about before he came into my office?"

"He just wanted to know if I had ever had much interaction with M before this incident. I told him only cursorily. Is that alright Uncle?"

"Yes...yes my boy but I would like you to dig into Mr. Mallory and anyone who could be motivating him to usurp M. And keep this between you and I lad. If you notice anyone in the lab who may be working for Mallory...I need you to let me know."

"I will uncle...I mean...Quartermaster."

* * *

James woke in a small wooden bed. His head felt groggy. That was a strange dream...a...dream...M...Tanner...Eve! He looked down at his feet and the boots beside his cot.

"Shit!" Bond palmed his face in his hands. "Why...M...Christ!" He couldn't believe that he was still here in M's dream. Another bloody dream! That's all this is!

Caught in a net of shifting awareness and yet he slept. Just now he woke from a dreamless slumber, Q must have done something because it was beginning to feel like he had been up for days running and jumping from dream to dream.

Poor M...he had to save her. Bond was more than angered that she had had to witness her husband brutally murdered and by the maniac who tried to kill her.

Bond couldn't stand this anymore. The pain he heard in M's wail, as Silva killed Nigel. As it torturously hurt her, it tore into him more that he thought it possible.

She...it...why did what emotionally affect her, hit him harder than the last fist that collided with his face? He ached watching M crumble with seeing Nigel's brutal death. For her to have had a brief glimpse of him again after he had died in reality.

Bond could only imagine how he would have felt had his parents resurfaced in any of his dreams. It was because he knew what it was like to lose your entire world in an instant, that he felt so pained for her now.

Bond had seen and dealt enough death to know that there was nothing but pain and regrets in those last moments of life. Bond had not known Nigel Mansfield but he bloody well envied the man.

The orb was obviously making this dream more stable for Bond to be able to even attempt to rationalize his feelings for M while dressing in a 19th century naval uniform.

A knock sounded at his door. "Come!" Bond barked, as he struggled in pulling on one of his boots.

Tanner and Eve entered his cabin. "Did you sleep?"

"Yes. And you two I imagine." Bond looked up at the wary way that his two friends looked at each other.

"Oh...I see an about time too. Well I won't be the one to tell anyone. M would just say keep it low so no fuss is made. So be subtle at work in other words. Hell...now I'm replacing her." Bond said sadly shaking his head as he stood and pulled on his coat and captains hat.

"Shall we go out and see what this dream has wrought for us now?" Bond led them out of the captains quarters and out onto the deck. It was gloomy out but no storm on the horizon yet.

A perfect reflection of their current mood and likely M's, as this was her nightmare, they were just stuck in it with her.

"Q and the doctors must have given our bodies drugs to have such a dreamless sleep." Eve said as they looked around at the ship.

"M must have thought to wish our travels faster." Tanner said noticing the repairs that had been accomplished. Tanner couldn't keep the worry out of his voice. M was in the hands of her worst nightmare and it had a sobering effect to the otherwise adventurous spirit of the circumstances they were in.

"Any other day I would love to dream of adventure and pirates." Tanner said

"Yes; well today it is real and there is real danger." Eve added.

Bond began yelling at the crew to find that ship, trusting that they would know just how to do that because he hadn't a clue.

"How long do you think they had us sleep?" Bond asked.

"At least 5 hours. No doubt Q insisted on at least that much." Tanner answered.

A midshipman came and told them their heading and the last time that they spotted the pirate vessel. Bond nodded thanks and told him to run drills for the men and make fasted speed in pursuit.

The wind seemed to sense their urgency and picked up, billowing the sails and propelling the ship faster towards their goal.

"M." Bond muttered under his breath. Eve heard him and looped her arm through his. "She's given us breath in our sails." Bond said looking more worried than Eve had ever seen him.

"Bond, I think she's fine. Your imagination is likely worse than what imaginary dream Silva could be. I mean self preservation dictates that M should not wish harm to herself so we have to remain positive."

"But what if the grief...and the guilt...well...she could feel that she deserves punishment." Bond grimaces as he looked at Eve. Eve face sort of dropped, as if she hadn't thought of that.

"Silva should and will be dead again by my hand!" Bond snarled, looking out over the seemingly endless waves. He gripped the railing tightly digging his nails into the hardwood. That bastard will hurt her...touch her and god forbid, rape her to take his revenge.

Tanner grimaced as he followed them to look over the port side of the ship. "Seeing Nigel die...and the guilt she felt about giving Silva over to to Chinese could do just that."

"No...stop it!" Eve exclaimed. We have to believe in the positive. Emotions are strong in these dream so we must send out only good vibes. If M knows that we care...that we love her then she will feel hope." Eve looked at Bond as she said this. "You do love her don't you James?"

"Yes. Yes I do."

"I suspected as much." Tanner added, as he shook his head in both amazement and pity. Amazed that Bond had so easily admitted something that had been simmering beneath the surface between the two stubborn people for years and years. The pity was for the dire situation that they found themselves in.

"I thought so!" Eve exclaimed with a large smile on her face. "You aren't just saying this because she is younger in this dream are you Bond?"

"M certainly is...well...va...va...va...voom now that she's young and blonde." Tanner added a little too enthusiastically for Bond and Eve.

"M is a gorgeous woman regardless of her age and for her age...well I damn well hope to hold myself that well." Eve said with her hands on her hips. "Don't you two dare just drool over her because she's young...if it's love Bond...it should be about more than just looks."

Bond frowned. "You seriously think I'm that shallow Eve?"

"Sorry Bond. I never thought of it that way before but I suppose I've been younger in my dreams also."

"Me too." Tanner said "God I hope she is alright and we can find her soon."

"No but I just wanted to make sure and you know that she will believe the same when you tell her here. "

"She might." Bond pondered aloud. "But in all my dreams she was just as we know her and I was still drawn to her every single bloody time. I could have had dreams of anyone, you included Eve but it was always her."

"True love." Eve said in awe as she pulled her right hand up to curl by her heart. "So sweet."

Bond blushed and turn to look out over the waves and just then the sun peeked through the clouds.

"Come on you scallywags...let's go find the woman of my dreams!" Bond yelled to the crew who cheered as if they knew the entire plot to this dream and endorsed it wholeheartedly.

To be continued…


	11. Silva & M

**_Chapter 11_ **

**_M & Silva_ **

* * *

M woke in a small cottage that felt...somehow...like a memory from childhood that fluttered within the memory...like an old dream.

M stood and noticed that she was not aching and a glance in the mirror told her that she was still young...in her twenties. She looked about the small cottage and smelt fresh baked bread as she helped herself and to the pot of still warm tea.

What was going on here now?

Everything she wanted was somehow here before her. Her clothing was casual and comfortable like she was on a long forgotten cherished holiday. A holiday, like...back in the late sixties. Wait if in this was a dream and she got whatever she wanted? That meant…

M ran out of the cottage and headed over the hill and down the lane. As she ran...she noticed that the air was crisp and cool, indicating spring or fall. The sounds of waves crashing against the shore became closer and closer.

M instinctively took the path along the coast to the right of the road and continued at a jog. Around the next bend she saw two chairs in the distance, a blanket and a picnic basket.

M could only see the back of a tall man down on the beach as she made it to the chairs on the rise.

M began to cry and run as fast as she could to the man in the distance, but as she ran she heard another call out to her.

"M!" That made her stop and turned to her left. The air around her began to heat up and she looked at herself. Her clothing had changed, she was now dressed for work. The man coming up to her was familiar. The warm sun beat down on his blond hair and the bruises and marks on his face from his latest battle made her frown.

"Bond? What are you doing here?"

"What are you talking about M? You came to the Bahamas after the Skyfleet disaster."

"No...I...I don't want this! Where is Nigel? I have to find him!" M felt beyond desperate and panicked. How did it go from England in Autumn to the Bahamas? This was all still just a bloody stupid confusing dream.

Enough with the self pity! How can she use this dream to find Nigel. She lost him...twice...and it hurt so much that she could still feel it within this shadow of reality.

M was trapped in this bloody dream just at Tanner, Eve and Bond are. Each of them trapped in the swirling memories that inspire them.

"M...I'm sorry for being a prat but I was on a lead and there is something major going on here."

"I know Bond. I know that there is always something major going on...why do you think I work so late and never get home on...time." M realised that Nigel must still be on the beach, so she turned away from Bond and walked back towards the beach but Bond kept after her.

"You know that even if I disregard your orders it is only for the greater mission. I don't mean to piss you off but I want to win...for you." He reached out to gently caress her face.

M's eyes went wide in shock at his action and turned suddenly to storm away from him. How dare he! Standing there bruised and beaten, sun kissed like a Greek Adonis and...and...flirting! With her! He was at once everything she wanted and detested at the same time!

"Only you could be so bold!" She mumbled as she hurried away from him onto the beach. A beach...that's where she was going...to find...wait...who...what. Olivia paused on the beach as the sea changed and she was no longer in the islands but back home along the British coastline and back again. Switching back between sun and clouds her vision was hazy.

She caught movement in the corner of her eye but she trudged along beginning her search once more.

Bond was following her along the beach. Olivia sensed him as if she had become attuned to his body...his scent and definitely his behaviour. This was what he was trained to do...his modus operandi where a female target is concerned. Not once in all these years had she ever thought...hoped that his focus would be turned towards her.

Dreams tell a truth that the rational mind would like to ignore. Olivia's hidden desire for one she should not...is one such truth.

Olivia continued on as she searched this beach for what she man she had lost through time and disloyalty.

Bond grabbed her arm and she turned to let him have it!

M's heart broke a little at what he said...suddenly it sounded as if at a distance, as if this were all a conversation over the phone. The Casino Royale case...Vesper.

"The bitch is dead." He said over the phone after he lost Vesper...oh my god the pain!

Nigel...

M felt the crushing weight around her heart just as Bond must have, to have see her drown before him. The loss...the finality...can he not have what she had with…Nigel, someone young enough to share a proper life with.

Suddenly the memory of the hospital smell. Nigel lying cold on the bed...NO! NO!

M shook out of Bond's grasp and ran from him down the beach. Nigel! She needed to find Nigel! He can't be gone...not now...not again. Not like Bond's lost love.

All she wanted to do was hold him and say goodbye. He never regained consciousness in the hospital before he died. She'd never had the chance to say she was sorry...she loved him...and a final goodbye.

Bond's first love...M's first love. The parallels strike her in her desperation to search for some kind of life in all this death and destruction.

She feels a weight bearing down on her that makes her feel tired. The horizon changes, muted as if through a hazed lens like in old film close ups of female characters. The world was changing again to cold from the heat of the Bahamas and it seemed to stop moving.

Bond had stopped trying to delay her from finding...

Nigel...she knew she saw him on the beach getting ready to share the sunset with her. That time so long ago...where they made love on the grass of the embankment in the glow of the setting sun.

Just as she was about to reach out and grab him...

* * *

M woke yet again with a sense of calm for a moment. It was if she died. Then she realized that she was on a ship and was still trapped in this bloody dream. A dream within a dream, although she felt somewhat rested now.

There was a stomping on the deck above and she could hear a voice that brought horror to her waking and dreaming hours. The sudden lurch of the ship seemed to echo the feeling in her stomach.

"No...he's dead...Bond killed him...Scotland…it's just a dream...just a dream."

M pulled her knees up to her chest as she sat in the corner of the bed with the blanket pulled up around her. She wanted to hide under the covers like a child but it was all just a dream. One from which she couldn't wake.

What would happen to anyone who died when dreaming? Would it be like dying in your sleep? Was it time for her to go?

M looked at her hand and noticed that it was wrinkled again. She was no longer young. Her memory had expired and now she was just Olivia. Too old continue to be M much longer and too bloody old fight Silva off. Not that he would want her in that way...now.

Old and wrinkled was perhaps her self preservation kicking in. Silva had wanted her years ago when she was younger but he couldn't possibly now. And Bond...he was the same. He needed her as a mother figure until he saw her young. His eyes had nearly popped out of his head, but that was all just in her dream.

Bond was a fantasy to her. Having a young handsome man desire you at her age was all just part of her dreamscape. Even if it had become a bit more coherent since they all met on that ship.

M looked down at the clothing she was wearing and it was still the same but her hair was short again, just like she liked it. She felt a little more rested and it must have something to do with Q. He must have had them sleep and actually get some almost dreamless rest.

There was a thumping on the stairs, M shuffled out of the bed and over to the small table, quickly scanning the area for anything that she could use as a weapon.

The door was casually opened as Silva looked in. "Ah...you are finally awake."

"What do you want Silva. This is all just a dream and you're dead!"

Silva crossed the room to hover above her like a predator.

"You would like to believe that wouldn't you. It is true that you left me for dead but I will never be dead in here." Silva pointed to his head as he smiled maliciously at her.

"Once I wake up you will be gone."

Silva stretched out his hand to touch her face. M moved back against the cabin wall as far as she could. His touch was cold and shivers crept up her spine. She wanted to be brave...but the fear and revulsion began to gurgle and come up.

M began retching. He couldn't possibly…want...

"I don't care how you make yourself look or act in my presence M...I still want you. You are my creator and my death. My mother and father. Like the sun and the moon chasing each other through the sky endlessly throughout time. I killed your husband and I will kill your lover. You will belong only to me."

"NO! I have no lover and my husband has been dead over a year."

"Yet you are still trapped here with me...you cannot leave me. I reside in part of you that you can never purge. Bond cannot knife me in the back in here. Or are we really here? You could be bleeding out on that cold church floor after being shot by one of my mercenaries in the fight."

"Enough! That did not happen!"

"I told them not to touch you. They were all warned just to shoot Bond." Tiago shook his head in remorse. "I held that gun to your head but you were there you saw the doubt in my eyes. The frustration...even in that courtroom I killed many without thought but when I aimed my gun at you…"

"You pulled the trigger."

"I was aiming for your shoulder when I did and I had the opportunity to kill you then and there. In fact I had the ability to kill you for months. I knew where you lived and I know that Bond does too. Very unprofessional to allow an agent to know where you live M. I would have thought that you had learned from Hong Kong...but no."

Tiago was playing at innocent but M knew that he was anything but that. "Let me go…please." M began to panic.

He was so close to her. The madness in his eyes. Death might be better than was may come to pass. I the deepest recesses of her memory she knew deep down that he was gone but that he wanted this from her. Her death was not enough. He wanted to consummate the desire he had for her all those years ago in Hong Kong.

In the past whenever an individual was attracted to M she would try to casually brush the flirtation aside and remain professional. That always tainted the relationship, once that line was crossed. Tiago was that way with her. The way his eyes lingered had made her feel uncomfortable then and that was the same now.

"I've never wanted you that way and you know it Tiago!"

"Yes and it never stopped me from wanting you. That husband! Blah...he was not enough man for a woman like you. No! The passion we could have had...can have now...would be so much more than what that old man could give you."

"He wasn't always old and you know it. I'm old now...don't you see it?" M tried to rationalize with a mad man in her own insane dream.

"No...I see you as a middle aged if not a younger woman...as you remember yourself in your dreams. Even if you're old I would still want this."

"No this is absurd!"

"Don't you see M...you and I are tied together. I have thought of little but you for all the years we were apart. I held your image in my head as the Chinese tortured me. You and you alone gave me the strength to survive. It took me years to build up to it and to find out what had happened to Olivia Mansfield. Once I uncovered that you had traded me and traded up to a letter M...then my path was clear."

Was this inevitable? The price she was to pay for giving him up all those years ago? Then there was Skyfall. She almost died. If it hadn't been for Bond...

"I've always loved you M." Tiago said with a look caught between lust and anger.

Tiago...Silva would haunt her dreams for the rest of her life. He bloody well destroyed the very building that commemorated his loss as an agent. He almost destroyed her career and after this incident with the orb...she would be forced out. He had taken everything she had worked for and destroyed it! The only thing he never managed to take was her husband...until now.

Nigel died a natural death, thank god. M wouldn't have been able to bare having him see her become such a failure...brought down by a distant past mistake. She was thankful he didn't live to see her humiliated like this.

"Why are you doing this...why am I doing this to myself?"

M put her arms out to hold him away from her but he pushed her up against the cabin wall. Pinning her body with his. His massive head coming closer...ducking down to kiss her.

Silva's mouth covered hers and prevented her now silenced scream.  M's solitary screams of panic echoed in her own head.

* * *

Tanner and Bond stood on either side of the ship looking out with spy glasses trying to see any sign of the pirate ship.

Bond wouldn't stop pacing and occasionally pounded his fist on the wooden rail, or door or whatever was handy.

"Try to relax James. I don't think anything bad will happen to her in her own dream." Tanner said.

"How do you know? What if she felt such guilt over turning him over...such grief over her husband that she decides to consciously let her self die in here?"

"I don't doubt M. She would never take the easy way out. Give in...let herself go into the unknown when she knows we're still here. Not really, at least I hope she doesn't." Tanner said confused.

"We need to hurry." Bond said in response.

"Then again she has recently been kidnapped twice and watched her father and husband die. No...I'm sure M will push through regardless of what happens in her dreams." Tanner added cautiously.

A crewman suddenly called out and Tanner and Bond pulled the spyglass up to their eyes.

"The ship!"

"All hands make ready and catch that bloody ship!" Bond screamed.

"Aye...Aye captain!" They shouted.

Eve left the cabin and came to join them on the deck. "We found them?!"

"Yes. Get the crew armed and ready. We go save the damsel in distress and then touch the orb. Tanner you try to get directly to M while Eve and I fight the rest of the crew and Silva. Keep a good grip on that bloody orb so we can finally get home."

"I promise to do my best." Tanner said very serious suddenly. "We need to get out of here and to do that. We have to save M...from the ghosts of her past."

To be continued...


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the length between updates but here is a new chapter. Thank you for reading. :)

M felt herself slide to the floor as her legs turned to jelly. The ghost of all her past mistakes was unfortunately corporeal enough to hold her pinned against the bulkhead of the ship. His forceful kiss compelling her to take from him what was not wanted.

If only she could dissipate into the fabric of this dream and end up in hospital. Anything was better than being forced to accept his lips upon hers.

Eons went by in the time between the frantic beating of her heart. Why...why is she allowing this to continue.

Olivia Mansfield was panicked but M...M riled against the internalized guilt of the last 15 years and grew a bloody spine. She was alone and no one could save her but her!

M forced herself to attack the large embodiment of her long dead agent Tiago Rodriguez. The once promising younger man had become a monster...become Silva and M hated him with every fibre of her being.

She shoved him with a sudden burst of energy and the forethought that none of this was real. No matter the smell and taste of him in her mouth that made her want to vomit. Her heart pounded hard against her ribs as a scream tore from her mouth.

"NO!"

"But you are mine!"

"I belong to no man! I am myself and in here I am bloody QUEEN!"

The previously joyful smirk on Silva's face turned to a scowl. "You will never be rid of me M! You are mine!"

"NO! You will be pushed back down into the past like the distant memory of a failed school test that at one time meant panic and defeat but in the long passage of time, means nothing at all. The scope of one's life tends to add such clarity to non important things. Love and family mean something. You...you mean nothing at all!"

Silva charged at her and winded her pushing her back onto the small bed. For a dream this was still so very real! Unfortunately for M she was now prone on the bed being pinned down by a far larger enemy.

There was a sudden crash and jarring of the ship. The sound of shouts and clash of steal echoed down and Silva turned his head. M took the chance and bit his ear with such force that blood splashed on her face and into her mouth.

Bloody hell this dream was realistic! The metallic taste of his blood was far better than that of his kisses.

Crashes continued from somewhere above, as Silva clamped more pressure on her arms. The bite had merely made hims laugh.

"I knew it would be rough with you M. I like it rough and hoped you would rise to the challenge. It looks like the cavalry has arrived to TRY to save you!"

Blood dripped from the bite to his earlobe as Silva pinned her hands over her head. There was no hope that she could get away with out help. She screamed until he covered her mouth again with his.

She could feel as he snaked one hand down her body as he used the other to hold her hands in place above her head.

Silva undid his belt and the panic rose within her. There were still sounds of fighting and a yell, calling out for Silva from Bond.

Silva pulled off his belt and brought it up to wrap around her wrists, pullig tightly as Bond called out again and a bang sounded at the heavy oak door to the captain's cabin.

"Looks like your lover is here to save you M."

M panted hard, kicking at him as he smirked. "He...is...not...my lover. My best...agent!"

"Methinks she doth protest too much. He has been following you in and out of your dreams."

"What? What do you mean by that!"

"He follows you home, he follows you in your head and you want him. As much as you don't want me. He saved you from me once...do you think he can save you again? And if he does...what will his reward be this time?"

"What on earth are you talking about!"

"You know quite well M as I am just part of your elaborate dreamscape and no more alive than the representation of your husband who I killed in front of you. Oh you grieved for Nigel Mansfield and you've looked for him, as if you had died and gone to heaven. But you will not find him here...because you are still alive and any image of him is just a guilty memory."

"Shut the hell up Silva!"

"Why M...you wound me so. After all this you still don't realize that I'm your guilty conscious. Nigel was ignored as you ran MI6 and spent your days and evening dreaming of Bond's piercing blue eyes."

"I did no such thing!"

"Come on M. Admit it to yourself at least once! You did a little bit. That night...you know the one. The one where he visited your flat. In the beginning...that night...Nigel was still alive and your heart raced in excitement and danger. Having a dangerous new agent and killer one at that, in your home. Sitting on your furniture reading your own file. The gall! The presumption! The bloody gorgeous playboy that you think is completely unobtainable because of your age."

The pounding on the door increased and M could hear Tanner's voice as well. Her eyes went to the burlap bag in the corner that she had somehow forgotten or Silva had deposited in the corner when he arrived.

Silva followed her eyes. "Yes...that's it. You understand now. You are so close to going back through the looking glass. The door  **is**  the barrier between what you want and what you fear most! Your mind has you trapped in here with me to suffer for all the wrong you've done over the years."

Silva had given her enough space to sit up and then he yanked her up by the belt lashed around her wrists as he held her against his chest. M could still feel his breath on her neck as he leaned down to her neck to taunt her some more.

"I will always win my love." M shrieked "NO!" The door slammed inward and Silva pulled her up against him as a shield. He laughed as Tanner and 007 burst into the room followed by Eve.

Their swords were drawn and Bond looked furious. Tanner scanned the room as Eve and Bond surrounded Silva, swords pointed at him threateningly.

"Back off and she won't get hurt. A dagger materialized in Silva hand as Tanner grabbed the orb out of the bag and it began to glow…

"Ah...Bond? This thing is warming up fast! What do I do now?"

"I don't know." James added in genuine concern as he looked at M and Silva with his arm wrapped around her waist.

"Yes 007 how will you reach your beloved M in time. Once that orb goes off it will take whoever touches it with them and M will not be going." Silva held up the hand holding his belt around her hands.

Eve had moved around behind him as silently as she could but he turned towards her and put M between them.

"Just go Bond. The three of you get out of here. I order you all to go."

"Not on your or my own life, will I leave you behind M. Never." Bond said as his blue determined eyes met her own.

M mumbled. "Too bloody stubborn for your own good."

"James this thing is really warming up."

"Toss it here Tanner." Eve said as she caught it she tossed her sword over to Tanner. The orb was getting warmer and warmer, reminding her of that game hot potato they played as children and really wanting to toss it away from her but scared to lose it.

Silva moved around the room trying to maneuver M and himself towards the door to escape but Tanner jumped towards him suddenly.

In a flurry of movement Silva lashed out and stabbed Tanner and in that moment of distraction Bond was able to run him through with his rapier.

"Tanner!" Eve screamed.

Eve pulled Tanner's vest away from his stomach, to see the oozing wound and Bond grabbed M to him and enveloped her in a hug. He worked the leather belt from around her hands as they watched in satisfaction as Silva grunted through his last blood spattering breaths.

Eve put the orb down on the cabin floor as she tended to Tanner's wound.

"Tanner!" M yelled as she joined Eve on the floor. Bond steadied the orb and held it out to them.

"Come on. Let's see if this thing can get us home or at least out of this pirate nightmare!"

Tanner reached up, grimacing in pain as he touched the orb. M took one look back to make sure that her nightmare was dead and placed her hand on the warm metal object. Eve was the last as the orb became very, very hot.

James screamed into the sudden wind and light that burst forth from the cabin. "Hold on and whatever you do...don't let gooooo….."

To be continued...


	13. The Four Musketeers

 

Steven did all the tasks required of him but he could still not move up the MI6 corporate ladder. It was bloody frustrating! The younger tech Quintin who was strangely close to the old man was above him already.

Sure the younger man was excellent with computers but he did lack in other areas that should have propelled Steven forward and not the newest bloody hire.

The place is a zoo right now, all because the old man lost a device and M and staff were now in comas including 007 who was fool enough to take the device. Q had them all working on different versions of the device for use to extricate them from their stupor.

It was sad but Steven had massive personal issues on his mind. His wife left him and now the divorce was costing him most of his salary. He's been flopping over at a friend's flat but he is getting tired of it. He's been staying late under the guise of extra work and hiding away in various rooms to get a night's sleep.

Nothing had been going right but then, out of the blue, there was a email and then a call from someone claiming to be a friend. The man offered Steven a way out of his current problems and he wasn't even hesitating. He would not kill anyone but he sure as hell could do whatever it took to prolong this eventful disaster that struck the upper echelons of MI6.

Steven hit the electrical control panel...just enough to cause a bleep in power. He did it three times just enough for the computer to crash without allowing the backup generators to kick in. Steven knew whatever the old man was trying with the comatose patients would fail, due to the disturbance in the power.

Steven sent a text and then went to the cafe to get something to eat. As he sat in the chair an alert sounded on his mobile. A deposit of 10,000 £'s was made into his newly created account.

Steven redirected his newfound win-fall to his creditors, put a deposit on a flat he had asked an associate to hold for him til the end of the day. He then sat back and thoroughly enjoyed his tea for the first time in months.

* * *

The phone on M's desk rang and Mallory picked it up. "Hello."

" _Has the old witch woken up with her flying monkey's yet?"_

"Really...that is unnecessary Haines. Whatever you and she dealt with in the past should remain there. She has done an exemplary job here and the staff is all quite devoted."

" _Their loyalty will be their undoing. Fire the lot of them the moment we make you head of MI6. You know I do adore the fact that I had nothing to do with this and that bumbling old fool quartermaster can take the blame. He's definitely the one you should fire first. Did you make any solid connections yet in Q branch? Possible replacements who would be loyal to you and not just another one slobbering at her feet waiting for scraps?"_

"What are you implying Haines?"

_"You know bloody well that I think she got that job on her back years ago but just can't prove it!"_

Mallory rolled his eyes and decided to change the subject. "There is one young man who may be of use. I will try to get him alone by running into him at the commissary or something."

" _Good. You will need to start building a network of supporters who see the writing on the wall. The old M is dead. Long live the new M."_

Mallory was getting tired of Haines' accusations and slander toward a woman who he had always considered fair and even handed in all aspects of a very difficult job.

"M is not dead and you should have more reverence for a woman who up until recently has done an exemplary job of it for the past 20 years!"

Mallory frowned as he disconnected the call, none too gently. Haines had been a loyal supporter for years and a very good supporter of the military. Perplexing that he hated MI6 with such a vengeance. Something about his bodyguard dying at the hand of an agent.

Mallory suddenly realized that as M's replacement he could find out what happened! He began digging around and using his new access as interim M to do some digging. After an hour he rubbed his eyes. Most of what M had on Haines he couldn't access.

He picked up the phone and called the young man in Q branch. "Hello, Quintin...no don't bother Q he is likely busy trying to get M out of that comma. I wanted to talk to you actually. I need access to some files but I cannot gain entry even though I have the clearance. Could you please come to my office and assist me. Good I will see you shortly."

* * *

Q was furious! Their eyes were moving! They were waking up! Then bam! He must have overloaded the power circuits on the last attempt. The orb was glowing brightly and then nothing.

The four of them fell back under the pull of the original device. Q had pulled a earlier prototype of the device and mimicked the one that put his co-workers under. This way it kept their current situation more stable.

The doctor was checking on them and making sure that their feeding tubes were in place. Regardless, they were losing muscle mass after a week of being under.

Q looked over his secondary device and sighed as he took the cover off the orb. "Q 42 could you please bring me...oh bloody hell, where has he gone off to now?"

The doctor smiled. "He went off to eat, as people need to do now and again. I suggest maybe you do the same Q and get some rest or I will have to sedate you."

"You wouldn't dare!"

"I would and I can. You are no help to them dead on your feet. Go have a lie down in one of the beds and I will watch them until your Q 42 returns. Why is it you do not call them by their names?"

"I forget names but I never forget a number."

"Oh...I see." The doctor guided Q to the bed beside M and pulled the privacy divider. It was only moments and the older gentleman was completely asleep.

The doctor checked the vitals on the patient once more and took a seat and looked at his phone. There was nothing else to do unless the four sleeping beauties woke up.

* * *

Eve woke first, looking around as she was lying in a field with a pounding head and a sore red hand. She sat up and looked around. It was a summer field who knew where and she was alone or so she thought. The hand that touched the orb seemed a bit burnt and red. She wondered what happened. This was not home that was certain.

"ARGH...Bloody hell!"

"Tanner?!"

"Eve?" Tanner pulled himself to sitting looking at his red injured hand.

Eve stood up and walked through the tall grass over to Tanner. "Christ! Where the hell are we now?! I thought that if the four of us were together it would take us home! Wait...where is the orb?"

"I don't know." Tanner said looking around in the grass. "The bloody thing pops in and out of existence around us all the time. Where's M? James?"

"I don't know but I see a town and castle in the distance."

"They are likely there then. Maybe they have the orb? I wonder what happened. I could swear that I was waking up and then bam...nothing!" Tanner looked down at his red hand and rubbed it against his dark trousers. They were still dressed as they were on the ship. Tanner in dark trousers a white billowy shirt and boots, with a small sword at his side still.

"I know I felt the same Tanner. It was as if there was a power failure." Eve was still wearing grey trousers and a burgundy billowy blouse with boots. She was dressed as a man becuase it was easier to fight on the pirate ships this way. Her only weapon was a small knife.

The two of them walked along the road towards the castle. "I don't see power lines or any technology of any kind. It just smells like farms." Tanner stated. "We are before the 20th century again. I so liked my dream of the 1960's that was cool."

"I've been to the American Revolution and in a vampire's castle, the jurassic period and bloody pirate times and I don't like any of it! I just want to be home and get some takeaway and sit in front of the telly for days."

"I'll join you." Tanner blushed when he realised what he had just said.

Moneypenny looked at him and smiled holding out her hand for him to take as they walked towards the town. "I would like that."

"Are you sure...I mean are you Eve...the real or I mean part of the real Eve?"

"That's true. Are you the real Bill Tanner? If you are I would definitely sit around for entire weekend and just order take away and watch telly."

Bill could not wipe the smile from his face the entire walk into town. "Come on then. The faster that we find M, Bond and that bloody orb, the faster we get to do nothing together at yours."

It was odd walking into a earlier century town but they needed to find Bond, M and the orb. There was some commotion that was leading all the people to the centre of the town. Once they saw and heard the inhabitants they figured out that they are in 17th century France.

The two of them made their way with the crowd and Tanner asked someone what was going on.

"Their executing a spy. Milady. Will be a shame because she was good to the townsfolk. One of the King's elite turned her over as a spy when she refused his advances."

"Really? How awful." Eve said.

"It's work than that Mademoiselle. This one was so obsessed with the notorious Madame De Winter that he tricked her into bedding him. The man visited her in the dark of night pretending to be her lover!"

"The cad!" Tanner exclaimed. "What does Milady look like?" Tanner asked suddenly worried. Every time they jump from fantasy to fantasy it seems M is always in the centre of controversy.

"I think I've read this somewhere before Tanner. I wonder where Bond is?" Eve whispered to him.

Tanner whispered back. "I do too and yes...you have. Milady was the famous spy for Cardinal Richelieu in the Three Musketeers."

"Is she an older woman with short white hair or a young woman with blonde hair?" Eve asked the villager excitedly. She was starting to become as nervous as Tanner about all this.

The man they were gossiping with answered. "She is a small beautiful woman but she is older, with short cropped hair now that the soldiers have cut it all off."

"Damnit!" Tanner exclaimed as he grabbed Eve's hand and pulled her more quickly through the crowd. "You need a weapon Eve."

"I know. I can shoot the executioner as you devise an escape plan for M."

To be continued…


	14. Dreams of France

The room was completely black. M had no idea where she was other than in a feather bed. The fact of witch was poking her legs as she tried to get the tangled covers off her.

Suddenly she heard a noise at the end of the curtained bed. Dear god what now?

"Who's there?"

"M?"

"Bond?" M pulled the curtains back and a sliver of light intruded from embers in a fireplace.

"M...there is a deadman in your chamber."

"Why doesn't that even sound incredible at this point in this crazed reality."

"M that is not incredible in real life if you think about it." Bond smirked but it was not in amusement. This man could have done something, anything to M.

"Tosh! That's enough out of you. Where are we and what do we think is going on?" M climbed out of bed wearing nothing but a small shift dress. Her white hair poking up all over and looking completely adorable.

A sudden pounding on the door shocked them as Bond moved to block her from view as men rushed the room.

"I've caught you both!"

"What!" Bond responded to the older gentleman he knew was M's deceased husband Nigel Mansfield.

"You're obsessed with her...d'Artagnan and she detestes you! You were sneaking in here to make her believe that you were me!" The man drew his sword as Bond searched for a weapon he could use for defence.

M pushed past him. "This is prosperous and I will not have bloodshed in my chambers. Nigel don't be absurd. Bond only found the dead man in the chair at the end of my bed." She stretched her arm out to indicate the dead man with a sword sticking him dramatically to the back of the chair.

Bond for his part had no idea if he was the one who had killed the man or not. If he was intruding on M's in any way it could have been him. The way they jump in and out of these dreams it leaves much of the instances before and after very dizzy and foggy.

"Nigel...who is this Nigel...another Englishman in your life? A friend of your late husband? This dead man wears English stye clothing, is he another of your lovers. It has been brought to my attention that you still go by de Winter and the code name M'lady when conducting your spying on behalf of England."

"No! Stop all this nonsense!"

"See m'lord she is a spy!" One of the men beside them claimed. "You must do what the Cardinal advised and have them both executed!"

Bond could see Nigel eye his wife with desire and regret which turned to anger when he looked at Bond. "This is all your fault! Why my wife? Why?"

Bond didn't know what to say but blurted out something without really thinking. "How could I not?"

M looked at him in shock as she searched his eyes for any trace of dishonesty. "Bond?" She touched his arm. "Is this true? Are you real?"

Bond looked down at her sadly. "Yes...it's me. We're traveling through these dreams together after the last one. I thought I would go to my death without admitting the truth M. Dreams have a way of showing your personal truth...how you really feel, and I can't hide it."

"The other James...throughout the dreams were drawn to me but I thought that was all just a reflection of my own desires."

"What about Nigel?"  Bond asked desperate for the answer but scared to hear it.

"I've been trying to find him to say a proper goodby and to beg his forgiveness."  M said with a frown of remorse.

"Forgiveness for what?"

"Being a shit wife all these years."

"How sweet...now the two of you will die together as confessed lovers!" The image of Nigel spit out in anger. He wanted to kill them here and now but then there would be not pity for him from the King and court.

Bond held M in his arms. This was likely the last chance he would get. He leaned over and kissed her with passion laced with remorse, until the image of her husband tore them apart.

Nigel called for a shocked and crying maid to help M into some clothing to drag them to their death.

Bond still wondered if they would just wake up upon their death or if they would actually die. The maid went to work on M as Bond looked at the big bed behind her.

Damn he had really been that close...if only the husband had not burst in. Facing death was nothing new to him yet there was one experience he regretted not having and she was currently struggling with layers of period clothing.

Nigel or the dream representation of him slapped him hard across the face, seeing where Bond's eyes had wandered.

"You will never have her now!" He snarled into Bond's face.

Damn it all! Having her husband saying that directly too him made him even more angry for the loss of time.

"Nigel! Leave him alone. By the way you're dead. I regret that this is the way I must apologize to you but I do regret not spending more time with you and the children in the race for my career. However, you did enjoy the benefits of my occupation and wage."

"What are you talking about wife?"

"Oh...never mind. It's too late. It has always been too late. I loved you a great deal and you were a rock for me and my children. Thank you for that, now don't hurt Bond and don't kill either of us. This is all but a dream anyway."

Reality bent and there they were in a carriage being taken to their execution. The representative of the Cardinal sat learing at M when his face morphed into that of Silva's. He pulled a glowing orb out of his pocket.

"I suppose that you would be willing to do just about anything for this right now?"

"You bastard...you're dead regardless of your appearance beside my also dead husband!"

"Yes but we will always be here!" Silva spat. "I have a place in your head and you will never banish me like you managed in China!"

"Yes but only in the bad dreams...not in the good ones Silva. This one is about to turn bad so it was only natural that you would show up!" M shot back.

"You only have power because you exist in both our nightmares Silva." Bond said.

M looked perplexed. "Both?"

"You don't think him holding a gun to your head in my family kirk didn't give me night terrors?"

"James...I…"

"That's enough out of both of you both!" Nigel said pointing a sword towards both of them, looking manic. "There is a lovely crowd gathering to see the executioner take your heads, because If I can't have her, know one will!"

* * *

Q looked at the monitor as Mallory walked into the room. "What have we here?"

Q was furious. "What we have here is an enemy in our midst!"

"Look Q, I only asked Quinten to help because I knew that you were too busy..."

"I know about that! Haines is likely behind this entire thing."

"No he couldn't be...he had no idea and it's not like he could have made Bond steal the orb from your office."

"No...no...not what I mean. The power failure that happened the moment of extraction. I had them! They were waking and the secondary orb was functioning perfectly. No here is what I mean. Q 35...Steven Parker. He hit the electricity off...and he did it deliberately three times so that it interrupted the stream without causing the generators to kick in."

Mallory looked more closely at the screen in Q's office. "Have you run him through your system?"

"He was vetted. They all are."

Quinten finally spoke up. "Uncle...he hasn't been lately."

"Uncle?" Mallory questioned."

"Yes...he is my grand nephew...and he wasn't supposed to slip up like that at work."

"Sorry Q...I was just excited with what I found when digging into Parker's finances and personal life. It appears he's getting a divorce but has recently put a deposit down on a nice flat."

"That is interesting. When and how much money did he suddenly get?"

"There is a new bank account that has or had ten thousand pounds deposited yesterday."

"From where?" Q asked. "It could have been a settlement from the wife if she's more affluent."

"It was from a nearly untraceable account in the Cayman's."

"Nearly?" Mallory asked crossing his arms.

Q smiled. "My nephew here is a unique talent when it comes to hacking and that is why he is now a Q. Not to mention he is incorruptible and will not leave for greener pastures in the private sector."

"Really and why not?" Mallory asked.

"Uncle has supported my family for years and payed for all my equipment and education costs for my sister and myself."

"Sister?"

"Yes, she is a professor of computer science at Oxford."

"Quinn is wonderful an identifying new recruits for us. Indispensable for building this team." Q answered.

"What about this Parker then?"

"He was brought in at the request of Q 20, they were mates. Everything has been fine for the years he's been here. I think vetting should now be upped to a refresher every six months just to be sure. That is the only way we can identify problems before they happen from now on."

"Good idea Q. Now what do we do about Steven Parker?"

"I think I could work on his mobile but I will have to download the contents without notice." Quinten added.

"Do that and find out who paid him. M will want to know once she wakes up."

To be continued...


End file.
